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NO WONDER HIS FRAUDULENCY HAS LOST WHATEVER SENSE HE MAY HAVE HAD ABOUT THE ECONOMY in his calling upon a post-9/11 America to go about their everyday routines in the name of preventing further Infamous and Notorious Terrorist Attacks--let alone maintaining a socioeconomic status quo with respect to funding the ur-RAHOWA Against Terrorism; again, with an eye towards "preventing further terrorist attacks."

The irony of which, in contrast with the clear and present danger of socioeconomic collapse which the so-called "New World Order" could quickly exploit to the point of "undermining Our Antient and Pecuilar Soverignty and Soverign Identity as a Nation," or so the "patriot" platitude hath it, is not lost upon Jon "Daily Show" Stewart of Comedy Central (hat tip to Brilliant @ Breakfast), as found parallels between His Fraudulency's 2003 pronouncements on the ur-RAHOWA and the recent such on the socioeconomic crisis-in-waiting:

As if that weren't enough, Think Progress' The Wonk Room offers this flashback (and then some) to "October Surprise" remarks just before the 2004 elections by way of a (supposed) al-Qaeda propaganda message which made clear their intentions to bankrupt America in service to His Fraudulency's Great Within as can be excused to maintain a theoretical war footing or otherwise justify a National Emergency (emphasis supplied):

As Congress considers a $700 billion way out of the current economic crisis, it’s hard not to notice that this sum closely resembles the amount that the U.S. has spent so far in Iraq. (We will have spent far more than that by the time we withdraw.)

Many will remember Osama bin Laden’s November 2004 straight-to-video release where he discussed Al Qaeda’s stratey against the United States, saying it was “easy for [Al Qaeda] to provoke and bait this administration“:

All that we have to do is to send two Mujahedin to the farthest point East to raise a piece of cloth on which is written al-Qa’ida in order to make the generals race there to cause America to suffer human economic and political losses without their achieving for it anything of note other than some benefits to their private companies. […]

So we are continuing this policy in bleeding America to the point of bankruptcy. […]

And even more dangerous and bitter for America is that the Mujahedin recently forced Bush to resort to emergency funds to continue the fight in Afghanistan and Iraq which is evidence of the success of the bleed-until-bankruptcy plan with Allah’s permission… And it all shows that the real loser is… you. It’s the American people and their economy.

Anticipating the likely release of a new Al Qaeda video starring either bin Laden or Ayman al Zawahiri — both of whom remain at large, more than seven years after George W. Bush promised to bring them in “dead or alive” — we should remember that, as Ron Suskind reported in The One Percent Doctrine, the CIA’s strategic assessment that “bin-Laden’s [Nov. 2004] message was clearly designed to assist the President’s reelection“:

At the five o’clock meeting, [deputy CIA director] John McLaughlin opened the issue with the consensus view: “Bin-Laden certainly did a nice favor today for the President.”

McLaughlin’s comment drew nods from CIA officers at the table. Jami Miscik, CIA deputy associate director for intelligence, suggested that the al-Qaeda founder may have come to Bush’s aid because bin-Laden felt threatened by the rise in Iraq of Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi; bin-Laden might have thought his leadership would be diminished if Bush lost the White House and their “eye-to-eye struggle” ended.

But the CIA analysts also felt that bin-Laden might have recognized how Bush’s policies – including the Guantanamo prison camp, the Abu Ghraib scandal and the endless bloodshed in Iraq – were serving al-Qaeda’s strategic goals for recruiting a new generation of jihadists.

“Certainly,” the CIA’s Miscik said, “he would want Bush to keep doing what he’s doing for a few more years,” according to Suskind’s account of the meeting.

John McCain has been very clear that when it comes to national security, he would like to keep doing what Bush has been doing for a few more years. That is, he would like to keep jumping at the bait. Remember that when that new AQ video drops.

And let's not forget the possibility that these "al-Qaeda tapes" as come out from time to time could easily be forgeries cooked up by the CIA under lettres de cachet from His Frauduelncy's Great Within "just to keep the American people scared," and deliberately, into voting Straight Republican. And, in the process, suggesting that voting Straight Republican is one with G-d, Country and Family.

Never mind that the current Straight Republican line is calling for nothing short of pure, unadulterated Fascism as would make Benito Mussolini proud. Or, for that matter, Dr. B.F. Malan, Hendrik Verword and all the rest in apartheid South Africa.

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SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT WHENVER YOU HEAR ON THE NEWS ABOUT HOW THE LATEST POLL NUMBERS ARE TURNING IN INDECISION 2008--as in a lesson from history on how and why poll numbers can't always be trusted as credible or may show signs of bias of prejudice:

Modern scientific polling techniques can be attributed, in large measure, to the fallout from the star-crossed Literary Digest Presidential Straw Poll in the 1936 Presidential elections, which predicted that then-Republican Presidential candidate Alf Landon would deny incumbent Democratic President Franklin Delano Roosevelt a second term. But, as things turned out, FDR won a second term, while Landon took only Maine and Vermont--an outcome which the upstart pollster George Gallup correctly predicted just days before The Literary Digest pulled its whopper, using his newly-developed scientific approaches to polling as relied on using random samples spread across various parts of the country and with reasonable representation across the several demographic groups.

(In the case of The Literary Digest, their polling technique was fatally flawed right from the get-go: They relied on their own subscriber mailing list, as well as purchased lists of automotive registrations and telephone subscriptions--some 10 million names in all, of which they got back some 2 million responses, for a response rate of 20%--to come up with a rather broad statistical sample for their "straw poll." Broad--and, as it turned out, biased socioeconomically in favour of such who had stable incomes by Great Depression standards and, hence, were likely to vote Republican all the more come November, as the prevailing thinking went.)

Once the final result showed that FDR had won a second term for his "New Deal," The Literary Digest, itself a rather prestigious and respected weekly review of the news, arts, literature and drama, wound up with the proverbial egg on its face and promised that things would be better next time around.

Only there would be no next time for The Literary Digest: Fallout from the Presidential Straw Poll debacle translated into loss of subscribers and advertisers, forcing Funk & Wagnalls, who published same since 1890, to discontinue its publication within a year's time.

Something to think about before falling for some "opt-in poll" such as the likes of NewsMax advertises across the Information Stuporbahn with some slogan like "Is Obama Finished? Vote Here Now!"

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COULD IT BE THAT WALLY WORLD IS ENGAGING IN DELIBERATE SICK HUMOUR @ THE EXPENSE OF PARENTS SHOPPING FOR SCHOOL SUPPLIES by way of "back-to-school shopping lists" as turn out being inaccurate or otherwise misleading?

The Wale Up Wal-Mart blog thought so back in August, just as the "back-to-school" shopping was starting in many areas of the country:

So apparently Wal-Mart has been forging back to school shopping lists complete with details making it look like an official school list. One imagines that this was an attempt to get parents to buy a few extra supplies, but why in the world did they think they could get away with this? Perhaps the best detail of this story is that the fake list included items banned from schools.

The full story is posted below from Kelby Carr. Enjoy!

My daughter is about to start kindergarten, so naturally we did some back to school shopping. Our state sales tax break weekend happened recently. When we noticed the local Wal-Mart had shopping lists not only specific to school and grade level, but to teacher, we were thrilled. We started tossing items in the cart to spend, spend, spend.

Weren’t we a little surprised to learn afterwards that Wal-Mart invented those lists. Not only were we a bit surprised to learn they did not, in fact, base the lists on anything remotely suggested by the school. Wal-Mart, in fact, put items on the list that are BANNED from being brought to school.

Our daughter’s school said Wal-Mart makes up those lists on their own, and a number of items (such as crayons) are on a list from the school. A list of items parents are specifically told not to have their child bring to school. Seriously?

The real back to school list also featured several items that are not on Wal-Mart’s list.

So these lists are, in essence, a trick to get parents (and I can only assume, being that it’s a discount store like Wal-Mart, a great many parents who are on a tight budget) to drop cash on unnecessary purchases. That really aggravates me. It isn’t a big deal if I buy a few extra supplies. I can afford it, and I am sure we will use these items elsewhere. I wouldn’t have bought them otherwise, but it isn’t the end of the world.

But what if I was broke? Or a single mom living on a low income? Or both? I truck over to Wal-Mart thinking I will stretch my precious dollars, only to drop cash on crap I don’t need just because I am trying hard to be sure my poor child isn’t embarrassed by missing needed supplies. That part of it sickens me.

[***]

I can imagine they would say that they are making these lists as suggestions to assist shopping parents. (In fact, Wal-Mart officials can feel free to comment and explain the rationale here. I will definitely approve your comments, and would frankly love to hear your explanation).

Here is the problem with that, however. I have done things like create registries and so forth. Often there is a suggested list of items to get or add to the list. Always, it is clear to me these items are not necessary. So, for example, Wal-Mart could make a list that is titled something like, “Suggested Back to School Items for Kindergartners.” Shoot, even then I would make the top of the page have a statement along the lines that these are suggestions and are not an official list from the school.

Instead, there is no way to describe these lists except as ones that are trying very hard to look official. They have a fax send line at the top of the page (who on earth faxed these, if not the schools?). They not only state the school, but also the grade level and they have various lists based on teacher. Each teacher has slightly different supplies required. If that doesn’t look like something official from the school, I’m not sure what would. Perhaps adding a medieval wax seal to each list?

I also presume other retail stores are doing the same thing, but I honestly haven’t checked.

Either way, be sure you get your back to school shopping list from the school itself. And let me know what’s on it. Because right now I have a shopping bag packed with crap I don’t need. Classy.

(In the interest of fairness, it might be worth knowing that Kmart, ShopKo and Target all provide official, school-specific shopping lists directly from the schools themselves during the relevant season in these parts.)

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SPEAKING OF "DROPPING CASH ON UNNECESSARY PURCHASES," ESPECIALLY HEADING INTO THE HOLIDAY SEASON, may I remind all of you about my previous suggestion to consider giving Savings Bonds or other Treasury securities instead, what with the star-crossed Paulson Plan to Save Our Socioeconomic Model and Paradigm likely to cost tax money--and the Zealots and True Believers of Neo-Conservatism-cum-Fascism forever insisting that low taxes=jobs=social stability and order perhaps needing to start waking up to Reality.

Even if it takes a steaming bowl of menudo (a Mexican tripe stew traditionally regarded as effective against hangovers) to accomplish such ends, with the inevitable Tex Averyesque reactions.

Meanwhile, the Chinese tainted milk scandal ensueth all the further, what with the European Union's 27 member states en bloc banning sale of milk-based products from China, especially so milk powder, infant formula and "White Rabbit" brand creamy candies. Likewise with China's two Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macau ... Taiwan ... Australia ... New Zealand ... and, most unlikely of all, Suriname, where a sizable ethnic Chinese community exists, which has imposed a ban on said "White Rabbit" sweets. (The United States, of course, doesn't see too many powdered milk products from China on sale; however, just to be on the safe side, consumers are being advised to be wary of online stores selling Chinese powdered milk products.)

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MR. O'REILLY, AND OTHERS AMONG THEIR DROOGS @ FOX PROLEFEED WHO STILL INSIST ON DEFENDING CAPITALISM WITH AMERICAN CHARACTERISTICS as one with the defence of Our Antient and Pecuilar Soverignty and Soverign Identity, and vice versa, may want to consider remarks by French President Nicolas Sarkozy which, though directed @ the French economy, could be equally reflective of the "morally superior" American model (via The New York Times, ultimately via the AP; emphasis added):

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Thursday the world came within ''a whisker of catastrophe'' during the recent financial crisis and that those responsible for the crisis must be identified and held accountable.

In his first major public address since the start of the crisis, Sarkozy also criticized ''abuses and scandals'' involving executive pay, and pledged to intervene to halt these practices unless executives come up with their own solution.

''Self-regulation as a way of solving all problems is finished. Laissez-faire is finished. The all-powerful market that always knows best is finished,'' Sarkozy said.

''The world came within a whisker of catastrophe. We can't run the risk of it happening again,'' Sarkozy, a conservative, said in an address in the southern Mediterranean port city of Toulon.

Sarkozy warned that the ongoing crisis ''will have consequences in the coming months on growth, on unemployment and on spending power.''

''The crisis is not finished ... its consequences will be lasting,'' Sarkozy said.

The president said the crisis made it necessary to accelerate his labor and fiscal reforms, to improve France's competitiveness and help small businesses. He said the ranks of the country's huge corps of civil servants would be shaved by 30,600 next year, not replaced as they retire.

Speaking a day before the French government presents its 2009 budget to Parliament, Sarkozy promised not to impose an ''austerity plan'' that would, according to him, ''deepen the recession.''

France's economy shrank by 0.3 percent in the second quarter, but French government ministers including Prime Minister Francois Fillon and Finance Minister Christine Lagarde have denied the country was in recession, saying it was only a slowdown.

In a wide-ranging speech that touched on both the global economy and France's domestic economy, the president said, ''We must identify those responsible for this disaster and they must be punished, at least financially.''

Saying there had been ''too many abuses and scandals'' involving executive pay, Sarkozy warned business leaders that ''either they agree on acceptable practices, or the government will regulate it before the end of the year.''

The president said executives' pay ''should be indexed to the real economic performance'' of their companies.

Executive pay has emerged as a hot button issue in the crisis, with the U.S. Congress forcing the administration to accept limits on Wall Street pay packages as part of its proposed $700 billion bailout of the American banking system.

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I ACKNOWLEDGE @ THIS TIME WHERE THE LEAD-IN PHOTOS THAT I SELECT FOR THESE ESSAYS WILL SOMETIMES BE IRRELEVANT TO THE TOPICS that I bring up in same ... including in this case, where such is worth illustrating the point that questions need to be addressed about the US$700 Billion Misunderstanding otherwise known as the Paulson Plan to Save Our Antient and Pecuilar Socioeconomic Paradigm and Model Within Free-Market Paradigms.

Which was addressed in my previous posting.

And which, no doubt, has caused John McCain to suspend his electoral campaign so that all the more attention can be directed @ Congressional response to said plan. Methinks such could prove to be a serious mistake for the McCain/Palin "Country First" ticket, not to mention depriving Fox Prolefeed of sustenance to appeal to their Great Unwashed audience.

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AND SPEAKING OF "ETHICAL DRUGS," Your Correspondent is pleased to have you know that The Exaggerator is proud to be affiliate with drugstore.com. the uncommon drugstore.

Not to mention Smallflower.com as well.

In either case, providing your personal care and medical needs from the comfort of your home via the Information Stuporbahn, without the bedlam and confusion (as well as saving considerable fuel in the process).

And your purchases will greatly support this blog and Your Correspondent.

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WORTHWHILE NEW CAMPAIGN TO CONSIDER JOINING, even if it's of an impromptu "grass roots" sort launching by way of the following "letter to the editor" of the Wisconsin Dells Events from the other day:

Make a difference and stop watching FOX TV

We can make a difference simply by what we view on TV.

I hope you will watch the Outfoxxed video, which is accessible on the Internet. It is long and you probably will think that you have heard this before. I did. The difference is that after watching this I feel compelled to take action.

Here are some programs that are sponsored by the FOX network: House; The Sarah Connor Chronicles (Terminator); Fringe; Prison Break and 24.

There are others. I know because I have watched them. I will no longer be watching FOX. Remember the amount of money they make is based on how many people watch. The programs listed above are particularly manipulative, well produced and generate a large viewing. They are slick. Any time you watch FOX, you know where the money is going.

Here are my two cents - it is not as loud as FOX but if enough people get on board we will have a strong populist movement.

FOX(y) philosophy is that it's OK to distort the truth. It's OK to lie, to torture, to take chances with other people's lives and a whole list of other things to save us from some vague threat of domination from Russia, terrorism, communism, liberalism, atheism, gay marriage, abortion, drugs, vitamins and disease. The ends justify the means is the only rational way to deal with these threats.

FOX down plays things that have corporate interest even if they are killing hundreds and even thousands of people such as alcohol, food additives and air pollution. It advocates drilling and money for oil companies in place of real incentives for cleaner energy alternatives that would produce American jobs.

The list goes on. Do you feel apathetic and unable to make a difference? This is exactly the result that supports the driving forces behind this movement. They need your apathy. So sit on your couch and do nothing. Absorb right wing propaganda as is presented by FOX on channel 47 in the Madison and surrounding area. Happy viewing.

Or, let's start a movement. Let's have this movement be inspired by love, not fear. Let's have it respect individuals more than corporations. Let's have it be American in showing that we care about our people without distinction: rich or poor, young or old, Republican or Democrat, black or white, straight or gay, Christian or not. We can make a difference. If you are ready and agree, stop supporting FOX network. I have removed FOX programs from my TIVO programming list.

Luke Metz, Baraboo

Well worth considering, especially during the November "sweeps" as usually sees TV programming @ its most sensationally depraved, @ times tending to the old hound-and-horny.

Pass this along, why don't you?

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THE SO-CALLED "LORD'S RESISTANCE ARMY" MAY NOT EXACTLY BE "JOEL'S ARMY," FOLKSIES, but having been handed the bitter spoils of defeat in Uganda, their troops have started making their presence known in Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo exploiting local tribal insurgencies.

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YOUR CORRESPONDENT UNDERSTANDS WHERE THE SAME ROCHESTER COALITION AS OPPOSETH THE DAKOTA, MINNESOTA AND EASTERN RAILWAY'S track-upgrade project (including an entirely new line into the Powder River Basin coalfields in Wyoming) out of health and safety issues for Rochester has gone on record calling for Rochester to see its proper place on a proposed high-speed rail link between the Twin Cities and Chicago.

For such a notion to occur, however, such will require substantial new construction between the Twin Cities and Rochester, which may be all the more difficult to arrange owing to the current socioeconomic debacle making private-sector finance all the more difficult.

Better solution: Upgrade the existing Winona-Rochester portion of the DM&E's line to allow a decent passenger rail service between Chicago and Rochester, using the existing Empire Builder's routing between Winona and Chicago as would permit a twice-daily service (one a day service with coaches and dinette; the other, an overnight train with couchette-type sleepers) similar to what the former Chicago and North Western used to have until the early 1960's with the Minnesota 400 and the Rochester-Minnesota Special, the latter hosting the famous Pullman sleeper Joseph Lister as had special provision for patients on stretchers heading to the Mayo Clinic.

Still, though, a new depot will need to be constructed to serve Rochester, as the original such was demolished around 1990 after having served as the Depot House restaurant and, later, a Salvation Army Thrift Store after passenger service was discontinued.

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ONE THING MORE: The suggestion that you consider buying Savings Bonds or other Treasury securities as an alternative to frivolous or otherwise unnecessary consumption goods in reply to the $700 Billion Misunderstanding should not be construed as investment advice.   

THE GOOD PEOPLE @ THE CAPITAL TIMES (CYBERSPACE, VIA MADISON, WISCONSIN) HAVE SOME SHOCKING NEWS TO REVEAL in the following editorial vis-a-vis Treasury Secretary Paulson's Grand Delusion otherwise known as a $700 Billion Misunderstanding.

Videlicet, that the whole, as originally written, may be--shock!! horror!!--unconstitutional:

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's draft proposal for the bailout of struggling financial services firms sought to make himself the most powerful unelected official in American history through his proposal to take charge of vast sectors of the U.S. economy--setting policy, buying and selling assets, determining whether financial institutions thrive or collapse--with no oversight.

Under Paulson's draft plan, Congress and the courts would have been barred from reviewing or challenging his moves to stabilize financial markets, effectively making him the nation's economic czar.

That's not just a dangerous power grab for economic and political reasons. It's unconstitutional.

Paulson's power grab was specifically spelled out by the treasury secretary in Section 8 of his proposal, which read: "Decisions by the secretary pursuant to the authority of this act are nonreviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency."

Senate Banking Committee Chris Dodd, the Connecticut Democrat who sought his party's nomination for president this year but has arguably emerged as a more influential player in his role as the congressional point man on a crisis that is bigger than an election, pushed back on Monday.

Dodd offered a plan to give Paulson extraordinary--and, frankly, excessive--powers. But the senator also moved to place tighter time limits on the period in which the treasury secretary would be able to exercise those powers, to establish an special inspector general to monitor the program, and to set up an emergency board with two congressional appointees to provide oversight.

Ultimately, Dodd and his compatriots should be able to restrain Paulson's power grab.

But they must be as specific in their constraint of Paulson as the treasury secretary was in his overreach.

Section 8 of the Paulson proposal must be stripped in its entirety.

There can be no vagueness, no gray area.

Otherwise, the treasury secretary would become a more powerful--and unaccountable--figure even than our powerful and unaccountable president. And, as such, he would be operating in direct conflict with the Constitution.

The nation's essential document makes it clear that every member of the executive branch is subject to legislative and judicial review.

Congress cannot delegate its oversight authority to a Cabinet member, even in a time of turmoil. The opening section of the Constitution gives all--emphasis on all--legislative authority to the House and Senate. Under the well-established constitutional doctrine of nondelegation, Congress cannot cede that power in the manner that Paulson's draft plan proposed--or, for that matter, in any manner whatsoever.

"It's hard to run afoul of the nondelegation doctrine, but if anything does, this is probably it," Jamie Raskin, a professor of constitutional law at American University's Washington College of Law, told the Maryland Daily Record, a newspaper that deals with legal issues. "How does Congress just give away $700 billion and tell the secretary of the treasury to figure out the rest?"

Raskin, a state senator, said that the doctrine of nondelegation "was the first thing I thought of when I heard that the administration's entire plan was on three pages and that the third page said $700 billion would be allocated to this purpose (and) programmatic details are to be fleshed out by the Treasury Department."

It is good that Raskin and a few others are reading the fine print.

It is necessary that Congress do the same.

Moral: Share the news with your Congressman.

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AS IF THESE AMAZING(?!) REVELATIONS AS ABOVE WEREN'T DISGUSTING ENOUGH FOR THE WEIRD AND UNWHOLESOME ELEMENT DOMINATING WASHINGTON to stomach without reaching for the old bicarbonate, Right Wing Watch is making note of where the current socioeconomic crisis is being seen by the Religiopolitical Right as a clear and present sign of Moral Breakdown as Threatens to Undermine Our Antient and Pecuilar Soverignty and Soverign Identity as a Pecuilar Among the Nations:

There have been several articles recently suggesting that with John McCain's decision to name Sarah Palin as his running mate, the focus of the election was shifting toward wedge issues like abortion and gay marriage and that the so-called "culture war" was about to be reignited, to the benefit of the Republican Party.

But that was before the economy went into a meltdown and became the primary issue in the campaign.  Of course, just because the focus has shifted away from their issues doesn't mean that the Religious Right isn't desperately trying to find ways of exploiting the current economic crisis to further their own agenda:

While the economy clearly is at the forefront of voter priorities, conservative Christians also draw a connection between traditional social issues like abortion and gay marriage and the economy, said Tony Perkins, president of the Washington-based Family Research Council.

"As there's a breakdown in the family and the family weakens, it's only logical it will hit Wall Street," Perkins said. "A nation cannot be strong just because of a financial structure alone. It has to have strong families and values."

Obviously, as soon as women stop having abortions and gays stop trying to get married and adopt children everything on Wall Street will turn right around.  It's as simple as that.

Which also raises the question: Whence the interconnexion between the defence of Family Values and the defence of capitalism with American characteristics, and vice versa?

As if that weren't enough to send the stomach churning beyond the help of even Prilosec or Zantac, another Right Wing Watch item as relates to the Religiopolitical Right's handling of Indecision 2008 bears noting--in this case, by equating exercise of the vote as one with Christian Witness:

Concerned Women for America recently released its "Election Sunday Package," a webpage full of audio and video resources to help mobilize right-wing voters for November.  Among those resources is this video called "Operation: Rally The Church" in which CWA President Wendy Wright explains that if Christians don't vote, "liberals who mock Christians, support abortion on demand and same-sex marriage, and would prefer that America be weak in the world community" will ruin this country.  She warns that if "citizens ... who love God don't vote, then the people who will be ruling over us in government will continue the slaughter of unborn babies, weaken marriage, and silence those who love God" and thus it is imperative that Christians do vote because all those who have died defending this country are putting "their hope in you ... to keep this a country worth living and dying for":

more the engrish!

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RECENTLY ISSUED A LONG-RANGE WEATHER OUTLOOK HEADING INTO THE WINTER MONTHS FOR THE MIDWESTERN STATES as suggested that, in contrast to last winter's excesses of heavy snow and chilly temperatures (as were put down to the presence of a La Nina pattern), this winter could be milder than usual in the temperature department with precipitation @ or near normal levels.

And if it turns out that the precipitation is rain, for the most part, expect such to be something of a blessing in disguise for highway road crews: North American Salt, a major producer of road salt, announced that a shortage of road salt could be possible this winter because last winter's extreme weather stretched supplies to the limit, not to mention the likelihood of serious budget cuts affecting snow and ice control.

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NO WONDER CONGRESS AND MANY OF THE "RIGHT-THINKING" AMERICAN PEOPLES ARE NOT VERY HAPPY WITH HIS FRAUDULENCY'S GRAND DESIGNS on a $700 billion rescue package of the banking and mortgage-lending system in the name of G-d, Country and Socioeconomic Stability--all without the common courtesy of transparency, checks and balances or proper oversight.

Imagine, if you will, bankers and securities dealers going on a two-day strike to protest the rescue package as proposed--which happens to be the case in India, where a two-day strike has been called by unions representing 900,000 employees @ state-owned banks (in particular the State Bank of India) over proposals to denationalise and merge many such institutions, never mind the potential for delays to the clearing system.

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BOLLYWOOD 1, HOLLYWOOD 0: Warner Brothers lost a battle in the Indian courts to stop the upcoming release of a new Bollywood "comedy of terrors" (to use its promotional tagline) entitled Hari Puttar, claiming that its title sounded too similar to its highly-successful Harry Potter franchise to the point of risking audience confusion.

The court, for its part, disagreed, contending that "Hari" was a common Indian male surname, and "puttar" was the Hindu and Punjabi word for "son." The BBC further elaborates:

The Delhi High Court also said that consumers who read the Harry Potter books, written by JK Rowling, were sufficiently educated to know that Hari Puttar was different, the agency quoted the lawyer as saying.

Hari Puttar tells the story of a 10-year-old boy who moves to England with his family and becomes involved in a plan to save the world.

The film is due to be released across India on Friday 26 September.

It was meant to hit Indian cinemas on 12 September, but its release was pushed back because of the court case.

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AND STAYING IN INDIA FOR A MOMENT, ITS SUPREME COURT UPHELD A LAW IN ORISSA STATE BANNING LEPERS AND CONSUMPTIVES FROM CONTESTING OR HOLDING ELECTIVE OFFICE @ municipal level in response to a lawsuit filed in 2005 by two municipal counsellors who were subsequently disqualified after they were found to have the contagious, yet treatable, disease known as leprosy.

Two of the justices were of the opine that the 1950-vintage law was promulgated in the interest of public health and safety, but advocates for the disabled, lepers and those of low caste were outraged @ the ruling.

Something to think about in the wake of GOP designs to carry out further schemes of "voter caging" against especially the poor and National Minorities in the guise of "protecting electoral purity and integrity." That, and the elections laws of several states still proscribing "morons and idiots" from voting.

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IT'S MY UNDERSTANDING THAT THE FBI HAS OPENED ENQUIRIES INTO THE DEBAUCHED EXCESSES OF "SUB-PRIME" AND "ALT-A" MORTGAGE LENDING as tended to fraud or deception on the part of both borrowers and investors alike.

Said enquiries looking into not only certain mortgage lenders specialist in "sub-prime" and "Alt-A" lending (as targeted such with poor, marginal or non-existant credit standards), but also Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, AIG and Lehman Brothers (from the standpoint of marketing securities on which said mortgages were made possible to less-sophisticate investors).

Might I suggest that the G-Men also consider looking into the involvement of His Fraudulency's Great Within and their droogs in K Street, especially so the Zealots and True Believers in what may best be described as "pure capitalism" being a Great White Father (so to speak) of the Lower Classes, "empowering" them out of "helpless enslavement" to "failed and failing" systems of State welfare and towards a new Classless Ownership Society based on American free-market models, experience and paradigms, in all of this. Especially so the likelihood of such being Indictable Offences against especially a certain John McCain, which should be considered grounds for disqualification were he to win the Presidential election.

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AND SPEAKING OF McCAIN'S VICE-PRESIDENTIAL WANNABE SARAH PALIN, you have to wonder if we may be seeing in her nothing short of Eva Duarte Peron (1919-1952), second wife of Argentine majordomo Juan Peron (1895-1974), reincarnate, what with both having a certain charisma designed to appeal in particular to the impoverished working classes.

Never mind where Eva Peron's model was based on a neo-Fascist "Third Position" model (as sought to develop agro-industrial self-reliance after years of Argentina being an export-reliant economy based too heavily on "oligarchic" foreign investment, pacifying the working classes with low-cost vacations, free medical and dental care and generous assistance through an affiliated "foundation") and Sarah Palin's such is based on the heretically deviant "Dominionist" brand of Pentecostalism reinforced by an idealised "pure capitalism" unlikely to be reconciled with Scriptural authority despite numerous attempts.

But remember, too, that "Evita," as the official propaganda made her out to be, died suddenly of uterine cancer, which would unwittingly be the beginning of the end for the first Peronist regime in the Argentine: Drought, poor harvests, inflation, loss of export markets, the Nelly Rivas affair (and related rumours that he was turning the Casa Rosa into a teen brothel) and labour unrests, combined with Pope Pius XII's excommunicating Peron in June of 1955 for his attempted campaign against the Catholic clergy (not to mention related attempts to legalise divorce and prostitution, and destigmatise bastardy), would eventually be his undoing by that October.

Following several years of exile, Peron would reclaim power in 1973, only to die of heart failure a year later.

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ANOTHER REASON WHY YOU CAN'T TRUST WALLY WORLD WITH YOUR SHOPPING REQUIREMENTS: Mein Innkeeper Friend hath it that most of the TV's on sale there--especially so the last of the analogue sets to be manufactured before the transition to digital transmission next 17 February--are really rebuilds of factory rejects from various manufacturers, hastly cobbled together and sold under new and largely unfamiliar brand names out of China or India so they can be dumped onto the Great Unwashed on the cheap as are unaware of the final transition from analogue to digital broadcasting standard.

Especially so the kind who are still hard-wired to FreeVee for reasons of cost or conscience, and will need to purchase a set-top converter box to ensure a seamless transition of reception (all along unaware of an incentive scheme to help with costs of purchasing converter boxes). That, and new issues in and of themselves over who will be able to provide repair service in case problems develop, let alone whether said sets have any sort of manufacturer's warranty or reasonable facsimilies thereof.

Something which needs to be investigated.   

more animals

AS IF TREASURY SECRETARY PAULSON'S MANUFACTURED APPEALS TO NATIONAL HONOUR AND UNITY WEREN'T GOOD ENOUGH FOR WINNING OVER the collective hearts and minds of Congress over to His Fraudulency's Grand Design of a $700 billion bailout plan for the very mess His Fraudulency's Great Within created all along ... along comes this rather hilarious satire from All Spin Zone, as takes the form of a Nigerian "419" scam letter:

Dear [your name goes here]:

I need to ask you to support an urgent secret business relationship with a transfer of funds of great magnitude.

I am Ministry of the Treasury of the Republic of America. My country has had crisis that has caused the need for large transfer of funds of 800 billion USD. If you would assist me in this transfer, it would be most profitable to you.

I am working with Mr. Phil Gramm, lobbyist for UBS, who (God willing) will be my replacement as Ministry of the Treasury in January. As a former U.S. congressional leader and the architect of the PALIN / McCain Financial Doctrine, you may know him as the leader of the American banking deregulation movement in the 1990s. As such, you can be assured that this transaction is 100% safe.

This is a matter of great urgency. We need a blank check. We need the funds as quickly as possible. We cannot directly transfer these funds in the names of our close friends because we are constantly under surveillance. My family lawyer advised me that I should look for a reliable and trustworthy person who will act as a next of kin so the funds can be transferred.

Please reply with all of your bank account, IRA and college fund account numbers and those of your children and grandchildren to wallstreetbailout@treasury.gov so that we may transfer your commission for this transaction. After I receive that information, I will respond with detailed information about safeguards that will be used to protect the funds.

Yours Faithfully,

Minister of Treasury Paulson

Share this with your friends and your Congressional delegation.

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ALSO WORTH YOUR TIME is the following video, courtesy of Americans United for Change, as asks the pressing question of our time: "Is History about to be made, or could History be repeating itself?"