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QUOTH JOHN McCAIN: "THE FUNDAMENTALS OF OUR ECONOMY ARE THE WORKERS, AND THEY ARE STRONG."

Which sounds, methinks, like something out of Communist or even Fascist/Nazi propaganda, never mind their articles of faith holding nothing but contempt for the working classes while officially claiming to represent their best interests.

To the Communists, workers were expected to be in full control of the means of production and distribution, expected to accept the Marxist doctrine of "from each according to his abilities, to each according to his need" as a Sanctii Sanctorum.

To the Fascists and Nazis, workers were seen to be but a larger part of a Greater Collective Whole known as Industry, and that they show due respect and obescience to their employers--a throwback to the Fascist movement's roots in corporatism, which expected employers to be all the more generous to their employees to the point of pacifying them against joining "subversive" labour unions.

(The which may want to be something Fox Prolefeed and their ilk may want to ponder, what with their reckless and utter contempt for liberals and Secular-Progressives expressed in their McCarthyistic dismissal therefor as "Communists" or "Nazis" absent proof or, @ mininum, a clear understanding of basic ideological differences. And do they choose to willfully ignore the warnings of History by way of the "Red Scare" which Sen. McCarthy wrought in the early 1950's, ruining as it did many thousands of innocent people to the point of suicides in some extreme cases?)

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IN ANY CASE, THE McCAIN/PALIN TICKET WANTS THE WORKING CLASSES TO SEE THEMSELVES AS PART OF A NOBLE AND PRIVILEGED CASTE based on free-market capitalism with American characteristics being their Great White Father; one as will empower them to a New Golden Age of Industry, Self-Reliance, Personal Responsibility, Thrift based on Cash Economy and a Wholesome and Simple Home Life; one as will answer any and every need thanks to greater selection and lower prices.

Unfortunately, such is one with the Producerist agenda, which holds that this supposedly Arcadian ideal is under threat from two different and opposing fronts:

• One the one hand, by Wall Street, The City, the Bahnhofstrasse, and the "International Jewish Conspiracies" controlling all "to the greater detrius of Christendom;" and,
• On the other hand, by unchecked and uncontrolled immigration (especially among those deemed to be "inferior peoples or races" or otherwise practicing religions not in communion with a "pure" form of Christian teaching--especially so such based on Fundamentalist and Primitive theologies), "chronic and habitual welfare dependency" (especially so among "inferior peoples") and a "morally bankrupt" system of State Social Security and welfare placing too great an emphasis on dependency over industry.

Is it any wonder, then, that the Producerist movement has such strange bedfellows as "the Four Hundred," neo-Nazis, White Christian Supremacists and the Archie Bunker/Alf Garnett element as common supporters and sympathisers?

And is it any wonder where, in the face of a clear and emerging state of socioeconomic deterioration and hardship, the McCain/Palin camp is expecting the workers to hold dear their privileged role and place within the traditional free-market capitalistic model and paradigm while jobs are becoming harder, if not difficult, to come by, incomes are shrinking and the rich-poor gap is widening all the more to the point of risking major social upheval?

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COME TO THINK OF IT, WE MAY WANT TO KEEP OUR EYES OPEN IN THE E-MAIL FOR A MAJOR RETURN OF THE "JONATHON ROURKE/JODY JACOBS" "FIVE REPORTS" CHAIN LETTER as made the rounds wholesale in the face of major uncertainty over the outcome of the 2000 Presidential elections, as witness the following paragraph early on:

I'll make you a promise. READ THIS E-MAIL THOROUGHLY TO THE VERY END--Follow precisely what it says to the letter--and you will not have to worry about who is President, whether or not there is a recession, or whether you will keep your current job....

Especially so the sort targeting especially lower-income or otherwise socioeconomically-vulnerable neighbourhoods where jobs are likely to be limited or unavailable, particularly so to the detrius of such with few or no realistically marketable job skills in the current socioeconomic state.

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SPOT WHAT'S WRONG HERE: Crude oil prices approaching $90/bbl on the NYMEX ... Gulf Coast offshore fields out of production since Hurricane Gustav's arrival, and remaining so in Ike's wake; likewise with refineries in the same general area ... gas prices across the country seeing wholesale and unexpected spikes in pricing, in some cases approaching $5/gallon, and with shortages of supply in some areas for the immediate and foreseeable future ... and militants in Nigeria's Niger Delta oilfields region launching attacks seeking greater autonomy and wealth-sharing, and resorting (or so rumoured) to sabotage on pipelines to make their feelings known.

Not to mention an unpredictably uncertain Presidential election here in a presumably "morally superior" United States which is prone to be exploited all the more by weird and unwholesome elements as could manipulate things all the more.

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AND YOU HAVE TO WONDER IF FEMA'S RELIEF-DISTRIBUTION NETWORK FOR VICTIMS OF HURRICANE IKE IN AND AROUND HOUSTON, TX is designed primarily for the sake of pacifying victims enough into voting Straight Republican come November, reinforced by fear and paranoia about an Obama/Biden victory meaning nothing less than Creeping Socialism on a par with Certain Contagious, Loathsome and Notorious Diseases and Illnesses.

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AND SPEAKING OF THE RACIST IMPRECATIONS RAISED BY THE MARKETING OF "OBAMA WAFFLES," OFFICIALLY EXCUSED BY ITS CREATORS AS "POLITICAL SATIRE," @ $10 a box, perhaps it was time to bring up an interesting little history lesson involving a highly-respected brand of pancake mix whose name carries the unfortunate taint of Jim Crow-era racial sensibilities and stereotypes playing off the former.

Let's let the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia @ Ferris State University explain how Aunt Jemima pancake mix played up the racist "mammy" stereotype for marketing purposes:

Mammy's most successful commercial expression was (and is) Aunt Jemima. In 1889, Charles Rutt, a Missouri newspaper editor, and Charles G. Underwood, a mill owner, developed the idea of a self-rising flour that only needed water. He called it Aunt Jemima's recipe. Rutt borrowed the Aunt Jemima name from a popular vaudeville song that he had heard performed by a team of minstrel performers. The minstrels included a skit with a southern mammy. Rutt decided to use the name and the image of the mammy-like Aunt Jemima to promote his new pancake mix. Unfortunately for him, he and his partner lacked the necessary capital to effectively promote and market the product. They sold the pancake recipe and the accompanying Aunt Jemima marketing idea to the R.T. Davis Mill Company.

The R.T. Davis company improved the pancake formula, and, more importantly, they developed an advertising plan to use a real person to portray Aunt Jemima. The woman they found to serve as the live model was Nancy Green, who was born a slave in Kentucky in 1834. She impersonated Aunt Jemima until her death in 1923. Struggling with profits, R.T. Davis Company made the bold decision to risk their entire fortune and future on a promotional exhibition at the 1893 World's Exposition in Chicago. The Company constructed the world's largest flour barrel, 24 feet high and 12 feet across. Standing near the basket, Nancy Green, dressed as Aunt Jemima, sang songs, cooked pancakes, and told stories about the Old South--stories which presented the South as a happy place for blacks and whites, alike. She was a huge success. She had served tens of thousands of pancakes by the time the fair ended. Her success established her as a national celebrity. Her image was plastered on billboards nationwide, with the caption, "I'se in town, honey." Green, in her role as Aunt Jemima, made appearances at countless country fairs, flea markets, food shows, and local grocery stores. By the turn of the century, Aunt Jemima, along with the Armour meat chef, were the two commercial symbols most trusted by American housewives. By 1910 more than 120 million Aunt Jemima breakfasts were being served annually. The popularity of Aunt Jemima inspired many giveaway and mail-in premiums, including, dolls, breakfast club pins, dishware, and recipe booklets.

The R.T. Davis Mill Company was renamed the Aunt Jemima Mills Company in 1914, and eventually sold to the Quaker Oats Company in 1926. In 1933 Anna Robinson, who weighed 350 pounds, became the second Aunt Jemima. She was much heavier and darker in complexion than was Nancy Green. The third Aunt Jemima was Edith Wilson, who is known primarily for playing the role of Aunt Jemima on radio and television shows between 1948 and 1966. By the 1960s the Quaker Oats Company was the market leader in the frozen food business, and Aunt Jemima was an American icon. In recent years, Aunt Jemima has been given a makeover: her skin is lighter and the handkerchief has been removed from her head. She now has the appearance of an attractive maid--not a Jim Crow era mammy.

(Come to think of it, the current Aunt Jemima looks somewhat like a cross between Diana Ross and Oprah Winfrey, no?) 

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COMMERCIAL WHICH DESERVES TO BE AIRED ALL THE MORE, QUESTIONING THE MORALS, DECENCY AND COMMON SENSE OF THE GOP GENERALLY, and their invocation of "traditional values" while exhibiting hypocrisy in the most flippant stylee (hat tip to Brave New Films):

(Come to think of it: Please share this video with your right-thinking friends who may still be tempted to vote Straight Republican in the belief that they are acting for G-d, Country and Family.)

And remember to pass along this meme:

A vote for McCain/Palin in November means that the economy must get worse before it gets better--if @ all.

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THE ONE OVERRIDING NEWS ITEM ON THE WORLD'S COLLECTIVE MIND TODAY WOULD HAVE TO BE THE SHOCK COLLAPSE OF THE LEHMAN BROTHERS INVESTMENT HOUSE following the collapse of emergency talks to try and save the same in the belief that they were somehow "essential" or otherwise "in the national interest."

Not to mention the news that another established investment house, Merrill Lynch, was being sold to Bank of America ... and the world's largest all-lines insurer, AIG, was seeking emergency assistance from the Federal Reserve.

Which, all in all, has the equities markets tanking full-on the world over, with major indices in unanimous freefall without exception. (The Tokyo and Hong Kong bourses were closed for local holidays.) And as if that weren't enow, crude oil is selling for below $100/bbl. for the first time since the ur-RAHOWA Against Terrorism was declared based on flawed arguments, thanks to the Lehman Brothers collapse and reports that damage to refining and offshore production capacity from Hurricane Ike was significantly less than feared. (Remember, most of the production along the Gulf of Mexico coast in Texas and Louisana was already offline because of Hurricane Gustav.)

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THE BLAME FOR LEHMAN'S COLLAPSE AND MERRILL'S SALE CAN BE PUT DOWN, IN LARGE MEASURE, TO THE "SUB-PRIME" AND "ALT-A" MORTGAGE MARKETS, backed as they were with high-risk debt equities "suitable for widows and orphans" in the name of His Fraudulency's Classless Ownership Society ... in particular, the desire to put more among the "chronic and habitual" specimens of welfare dependency with marginal or non-existant credit records into the "healthy" and "empowering" benefits of owner-occupancy housing through trick, deceit or other crude appeals to their primitive patriot love.

Especially where such lenders as were specialist in bad-credit mortgage lending may have tacitly encouraged their poor-risk borrowers to give false or misleading statements on their loan applications because "we really don't have time or staff to check this information out" and, what's more, they were working on quotas.

All expected, no doubt, to reinforce the Neocon/Fascist article of faith in free-market capitalism with American characteristics being the Great White Father as will lead and empower the "welfare-dependent" Lower Classes into a New Golden Age of Industry, Self-Reliance, Personal Responsibility, Thrift based on Cash Economy and a Wholesome and Simple Home Life--to be dominated in perpetuity by the White Male Low Church Christian Power Structure, thus entitled "by unwritten habit, custom and tradition." (The Low Church model no doubt preferred for its regarding ignorance and stupidity as bliss and heaven serving G-d and Christ.)

Which, in turn, must be stoking the fires of the crudest in anti-Semitic Zealotry and True Belief among the "patriotic" bigots and hatemongers all across the Information Stuporbahn, replete with all manner of crass suggestions that the International Zionist Conspiracy must be laughing in glee @ Lehman's collapse.

Which could be worth watching by the likes of the Anti-Defamation League and the Southern Poverty Law Centre's Intelligence Project, among such specialist in keeping que vive on hate, bigotry, xenophobia and intolerance.

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ONE THING HOLDERS OF INVESTMENT ACCOUNTS WITH LEHMAN BROTHERS MAY WANT TO KNOW IS THAT THEIR ACCOUNTS ARE INSURED by a Federal agency known as the Securities Investors Protection Corporation (SIPC), which insures brokerage accounts to a value of $500,000 in toto, of which a maximum of $100,000 can be in cash or cash equivalents.

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AND ALONG WITH THE APPEALS TO CRUDE AND LATENT ANTI-SEMITIC FEELINGS AND TENDENCIES LIKELY TO ENSUE WITH THE NEWS OF LEHMAN'S COLLAPSE, there will likely be calls for establishing some class of a "Christian Banking" model as would provide banking products and services "based on Christian principles."

Beg pardon, but you might want to get in touch with Peabody and Sherman and have them set their Patent Wayback Machine for Ruthwell, Scotland, 1810, and looking up the Rev. Henry Duncan, pastor of the local Presbyterian church, who established a savings bank for the benefit of his poorer parishoners to save against hardship and adversity, investing their deposits in high-quality securities managed by a Board of Trustees acting for and on behalf of the depositor/owners, with any profits ensuing on these investments returned to depositors as a dividend.

Which would be enough to inspire the establishment of 465 trustee savings banks across Great Britain (182 in Scotland alone) by 1818, by which time the concept would arrive in the United States with the 1816 establishment of the Philadelphia Savings Fund Society (PSFS), the first such in the United States, by a group of civic-minded industrialists led by a philanthropist named Condy Raquet. And within due time, yet well before the Civil War, Quakers and Catholics would set up savings banks across the Northeast in the interest of promoting thrift and self-reliance among the working classes. All operating along the Ruthwell model.

(Ruthwell, in case you're wondering, is in Dumfries and Galloway, close to the Solwent Firth about halfway between Gretna Green and Dumfries as the crow flies.)

As if that weren't enough, another run with the Wayback Machine would want to be taken to Lévis, Québec (Canada), 1900, and some quality time with one Alphonse Desjardins, developing his concept of the caisse populaire on which the North American credit union model would be based; especially worth researching would be his idea of promoting caisses @ local parish level for the benefit of their parishoners as a means of promoting thrift and economic empowerment thereby, particularly so in rural areas as were being hit hard by high birth rates and depopulation caused by many having to move to Montréal or even Boston just to find work @ risk of horrible living conditions, high rents, unstable job makets and wages, and a lack of a stable values system.

Do I have a satisfactory model of "Christian Banking" for those of you so advocating, or is that not good enough because of "incompatibility with American experience and models" expecting only an "elect***entitled as of right" to have monopoly on profits while the rank-and-file are expected to make do?

And how is such to be regarded as "Christian," come to think of it?

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TALK ABOUT DIARRHEA OF THE MOUTH, INDECISION 2008 MODEL AND STYLEE: Machiavelli on steroids and amphetamines was overheard not only taking issue with the ads of both McCain/Palin and Obama/Biden, but also fact-checking organisations like FactCheck.org and Politifact.com, contending that "they've got their own biases built in there" and, hence, should not be trusted.

If this be so, then who should the Right-Thinking American Public trust, Fox Prolefeed?

The Saturday Evening Post?

Capper's Weekly?

Grit?

The American Magazine?

Confidential ("Tells the Facts and Names the Names")?

The National Enquirer and suchlike in the vein of scabloids?

Capt. Billy's Whiz-Bang?

(Which reminds Your Correspondent of a T-shirt slogan from around the 1979-80 period: "God Created Grass ... Man Created Booze ... Who Can You Trust?")       

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READERS, YOU WILL KINDLY MAKE NOTE OF THE ONLINE SHOPPING SECTION OF THIS WEBLOG: Your Correspondent has decided to further tweak it around so as to feature only such as have generated good click-through rates, as well as my new e-boutique and Amazon.com and kin.

Hopefully, such will translate into faster download time, and will give you a better selection of what you really want all along.

Now, if only some of you as visit this blog regularly would maximise its potential by making a regular habit of getting your shopping done here for once, especially with the end-of-year holiday shopping season imminent before too long....

KUDOS AND HAT TIP TO BRAVE NEW FILMS FOR BRINGING TO MY ATTENTION THIS ITEM FROM BILL MOYERS' JOURNAL ON PBS LAST FRIDAY as discussed how the power and intrusion of conservative talkback radio programmes may be open to abuse and incitement to Extreme Ultraviolence among certain easiy-influenced listeners, as may have been the case with the Knoxville Massacree back in July (and note where, because of technical constraints on YouTube's part, the item is presented in two parts):

The which should serve as a wake-up call and a warning to the dangers of how "words have consequences," or so the proverb hath it.

And may want to be enough to call for a general "tune-out" of such hatemongering propagandists, especially such using "entertainment" as a defence to such clear and present danger. That, and my previous suggestion for an effective form of "pre-emptive" interception before the speech can get nasty and ugly.

Come to think of it, something which they could use--as in the meme of the hour:

A vote for McCain/Palin come November means that the economy must get worse before it gets better ... if @ all.

(But do so politely ... and responsibly.)

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AS IS PRETTY MUCH OBVIOUS BY NOW, GAS PRICES HAVE GONE BACK ON THE RISE IN SOME PARTS OF THE COUNTRY IN HURRICANE IKE'S WAKE, as in affecting offshore drilling rigs and refineries in and around Houston, Texas still shut down from before Hurricane Gustav's arrival.

And which, because of the Houston/Galveston power grid being cut off from the Texas Interconnexion by way of Ike, may take some time to recover before normal production levels and capacity can be discerned.

Not to mention assessing and repairing damage to refineries and refining capacity, as well as offshore oil platforms (two of which have been spotted adrift in the Gulf of Mexico, having broken loose from their moorings in Ike's winds) and pipeline feeds.

Result: Some, if not all, areas of the country seeing gas prices approaching $5/gallon for regular unleaded thanks to what insurance assessors and lawyers call an "act of G-d" scenario in hurricane form. (The Midwesten states should keep seeing lower than normal pricing for the nonce, inasmuch as crude oil serving the refineries in these parts comes, for the most part, from fields in Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, Kansas and western Canada. Said refineries being those of Murphy Oil in Superior, WI; Flint Hills Resources [alias Koch Refining] in Rosemount, MN; and Marathon in St. Paul Park, MN.)

Leaving Your Correspondent wondering if the prolonged disruption in Texas Gulf Coast oil and refined products supplies might translate into an "October Surprise" scenario as could leave egg on the face of the "drill, baby, drill!" element only now coming to grips with scandal ... and the Great Unwashed learning to realise that we cannot afford wasteful and unnecessary wildcat drilling which is unlikely to produce timely results.

Get over it.

Continue using public transit, biking or walking.

If you must drive, limit car use to only essential trips, being mindful of the importance of maintaining proper tyre pressure, for one.

And consider shopping online where feasable.

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COULD SATELLITE NAVIGATION AND GPS TECHNOLOGY ACTUALLY SAVE JET FUEL FOR THE AIRLINES, AND ALLOW FASTER TRAVEL TIMES?

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) thinks so:

Over the weekend, a test of SatNav and GPS technology in a commercial flight for SFO instead of traditional radar-based navigation systems found that the combi actually resulted in a faster flight compared with radar navigation and considerable fuel savings.

But then again, it's too early to bet the farm on how much longer it will be before the FAA formally scraps radar navigation in favour of SatNav and GPS such on commercial airline services. Further testing will need to be done to work out the kinks in the system and fine-tune it to ensure accuracy.

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FURTHER PROOF THAT A McCAIN/PALIN WIN COME NOVEMBER WILL MEAN THAT THE ECONOMY NEEDS TO GET WORSE BEFORE IT GETS BETTER (IF @ ALL): Retired Federal Reserve Board of Governors Chairman Alan Greenspan has gone on record warning that McCain's Grand Delusion of tax cuts that, he hopes, will translate into jobs and social stability based on free-market capitalistic paradigms will not work without serious spending cuts in the bargain to compensate.

And I think I know how McCain plans to pay for it: "Complete, final and binding" denationalisation of certain "non-essential and non-strategic" government agencies, institutions and schemes, especially so State Social Security (officially excusing same as one with "empowering the workers to a New Golden Age of Industry, Self-Reliance, Personal Responsibility, Thrift based on Cash Economy and a Wholesome and Simple Home Life").

Not to mention essentally turning Medicare and Medicaid over to the several states through "block grants" allowing the states to develop replacement schemes based on their own needs and requirements--so long as such is based on the ideal of free-market capitalism as Great White Father being basis and foundation therefor.

Which, all in all, will only serve to polarise the rich-poor gap to the point where social disorder may ensue, to be put down more than likely by sadisto means.

For now, though, spread this "meme" as a "whispering campaign:"

A vote for McCain/Palin in November means that the economy must get worse before it expects to get better--if @ all.

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A BRIEF NOTE, READERS, ON WHY THE PAGE HIT COUNTER'S NUMBERS MAY LOOK A LITTLE HIGHER THAN PREVIOUSLY,  for those among you visitors who wonder about these things:

On the overnight, SiteMeter, which has handled the traffic counting for this weblog ab ovo, so to speak, moved to new servers as are designed to provide a more accurate and more precise count of the weblog traffic.

And the count you see reflects a combination of both visitors and page views to this weblog from its launch.

Now you know.   

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ITEM FROM THINK PROGRESS AS PROVES WHERE RACISM IS AS CRUDE AS EVER IN INDECISION 2008, by way of the Values Voter Summit:

At the Values Voter Summit this weekend, vendors sold an item called "Obama Waffles" featuring a racist cartoon of Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) on the box front — with "popping eyes and big, thick lips" — and another image of him wearing an Arab-like headdress on its top flap. Its creators, Mark Whitlock and Bob DeMoss, said it was meant as "political satire," and sold the box for $10 from a booth at the Family Research Council event. CNN's Lou Dobbs stopped by the booth and exclaimed, "My wife will love this!" A photo shows Dobbs with a box of the mix in his hand.

Which leaves Your Correspondent wondering where "political satire" (the defence used by its creators to explain same) stops and offensive ethno-racial pandering begins in this instance.

And come to think of it: With boxes of "Obama Waffles" selling @ $10/box, you might want to reconsider when you see the following selection of pancake and waffle mixes you can buy online (in case lots, fo the most part):

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IS IT JUST ME, OR IS HURRICANE IKE'S DESTRUCTIVENESS UPON THE HOUSTON-GALVESTON CONNURBATION A SHOW OF DIVINE WRATH AND JUDGEMENT for Houston's arrogance in refusing to embrace zoning and land-use laws, not to mention its business community being some of the more arrogant specimens of support for "Wise Use" campaigns?

(Recall, readers, that after the Labour Day Hurricane of 1900 destroyed Galveston, killing some 6,000 people--to this day, the single worst loss of life in a weather-related disaster in the United States--ministers saw the destruction of Galveston as a show of Divine Wrath and Judgement upon what was then Texas' preeminent Gulf Coast port and its elites. In any case, Houston would eclipse Galveston as the Lone Star State's preeminent Gulf Coast port by 1915, thanks to the Houston Ship Channel and the export oil trade out of Houston.)

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IF THERE WAS A GOOD REASON WHY AMTRAK NEEDS ALL THE MORE SUPPORT AND ATTENTION IN CONGRESS, it would have to be the ever-increasing bedlam and confusion among air travellers in the face of higher fares (especially when purchased by phone or @ the airport ticket counter) and longer waits for security checks, not to mention airlines cutting flights all the more in response to higher fuel prices and perhaps secretly overbooking with phantom passengers to create the aura of full planes and profitability.

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AND HERE'S THE MEME TO SPREAD AROUND IN WHISPERS ALL THE MORE:

A vote for McCain/Palin come November means that the economy needs to be all the more in freefall before any recovery can happen--if @ all.