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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. 

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IT APPEARS AS IF JOHN McCAIN'S SO-CALLED "STRAIGHT TALK EXPRESS" HAS BLOWN SEVERAL TYRES AND IS ON THE VERGE OF A CRASH which could be, under normal circumstances, its own undoing--but The Terrible-Tempered Mr. Bang, for his part, refuses to come to terms with his fantasy crossing into Reality, instead sticking to the carefully-prepared and -nuanced script of his handlers.

Handlers who, for all Your Correspondent knows, are probably of weird and/or unwholesome nature, and yet fail to come to grips with Truth.

And for which the Mainsteam Media, let alone The Great Unwashed, are starting to see the obvious for once.

Case in point: What The New York Times had to say about McCain's distortions and attacks of late only the beginning of its imminent implosion (hat tip to Down With Tyranny):

Harsh advertisements and negative attacks are a staple of presidential campaigns, but Senator John McCain has drawn an avalanche of criticism this week from Democrats, independent groups and even some Republicans for regularly stretching the truth in attacking Senator Barack Obama's record and positions.

Mr. Obama has also been accused of distortions, but this week Mr. McCain has found himself under particularly heavy fire for a pair of headline-grabbing attacks. First the McCain campaign twisted Mr. Obama's words to suggest that he had compared Gov. Sarah Palin, the Republican vice-presidential nominee, to a pig after Mr. Obama said, in questioning Mr. McCain's claim to be the change agent in the race, "You can put lipstick on a pig; it's still a pig." (Mr. McCain once used the same expression to describe Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton's health plan.)

Then he falsely claimed that Mr. Obama supported "comprehensive sex education" for kindergartners (he supported teaching them to be alert for inappropriate advances from adults).

Those attacks followed weeks in which Mr. McCain repeatedly, and incorrectly, asserted that Mr. Obama would raise taxes on the middle class, even though analysts say he would cut taxes on the middle class more than Mr. McCain would, and misrepresented Mr. Obama's positions on energy and health care.

A McCain advertisement called "Fact Check" was itself found to be "less than honest" by FactCheck.org, a nonpartisan group. The group complained that the McCain campaign had cited its work debunking various Internet rumors about Ms. Palin and implied in the advertisement that the rumors had originated with Mr. Obama.

In an interview Friday on the NY1 cable news channel, a McCain supporter, Senator Orrin G. Hatch of Utah, called "ridiculous" the implication that Mr. Obama's "lipstick on a pig" comment was a reference to Ms. Palin, whom he also defended as coming under unfair attack.

"The last month, for sure," said Don Sipple, a Republican advertising strategist, "I think the predominance of liberty taken with truth and the facts has been more McCain than Obama."

Indeed, in recent days, Mr. McCain has been increasingly called out by news organizations, editorial boards and independent analysts like FactCheck.org. The group, which does not judge whether one candidate is more misleading than another, has cried foul on Mr. McCain more than twice as often since the start of the political conventions as it has on Mr. Obama.

A McCain spokesman, Brian Rogers, said the campaign had evidence for all its claims. "We stand fully by everything that's in our ads," Mr. Rogers said, "and everything that we've been saying we provide detailed backup for — everything. And if you and the Obama campaign want to disagree, that's your call."

Mr. McCain came into the race promoting himself as a truth teller and has long publicly deplored the kinds of negative tactics that helped sink his candidacy in the Republican primaries in 2000. But his strategy now reflects a calculation advisers made this summer — over the strenuous objections of some longtime hands who helped him build his "Straight Talk" image — to shift the campaign more toward disqualifying Mr. Obama in the eyes of voters.

"I think the McCain folks realize if they can get this thing down in the mud, drag Obama into the mud, that's where they have the best advantage to win," said Matthew Dowd, who worked with many top McCain campaign advisers when he was President Bush's chief strategist in the 2004 campaign, but who has since had a falling out with the White House. "If they stay up at 10,000 feet, they don't."

For all the criticism, the offensive seems to be having an impact. It has been widely credited by strategists in both parties with rejuvenating Mr. McCain's campaign and putting Mr. Obama on the defensive since it began early this summer.

Some who have criticized Mr. McCain have accused him of blatant untruths and of failing to correct himself when errors were pointed out.

On Friday on "The View," generally friendly territory for politicians, one co-host, Joy Behar, criticized his new advertisements. "We know that those two ads are untrue," Ms. Behar said. "They are lies. And yet you, at the end of it, say, 'I approve these messages.' Do you really approve them?"

"Actually they are not lies," Mr. McCain said crisply, "and have you seen some of the ads that are running against me?"

Mr. Obama's hands have not always been clean in this regard. He was called out earlier for saying, incorrectly, that Mr. McCain supported a "hundred-year war" in Iraq after Mr. McCain said in January that he would be fine with a hypothetical 100-year American presence in Iraq, as long as Americans were not being injured or killed there.

More recently, Mr. Obama has been criticized for advertisements that have distorted Mr. McCain's record on schools financing and incorrectly accused him of not supporting loan guarantees for the auto industry — a hot topic in Michigan. He has also taken Mr. McCain's repeated comments that American economy is "fundamentally sound" out of context, leaving out the fact that Mr. McCain almost always adds at the same time that he understands that times are tough and "people are hurting."

But sensing an opening in the mounting criticism of Mr. McCain, the Obama campaign released a withering statement after Mr. McCain's appearance on "The View."

"In running the sleaziest campaign since South Carolina in 2000 and standing by completely debunked lies on national television, it's clear that John McCain would rather lose his integrity than lose an election," Hari Sevugan, a spokesman for the Obama campaign, said in a statement.

At an event in Dover, N.H., a voter asked Mr. Obama when he would start "fighting back." Mr. Obama, who began his own confrontational advertising campaign Friday, said, "Our ads have been pretty tough, but I just have a different philosophy that I'm going to respond with the truth."

"I'm not going to start making up lies about John McCain," Mr. Obama said.

The McCain advertisements are devised to draw the interest of bloggers and cable news producers — but not necessarily always intended for wide, actual use on television stations — to shift the terms of the debate by questioning Mr. Obama's character and qualifications.

Mr. Sipple, the Republican strategist, voiced concern that Mr. McCain's approach could backfire. "Any campaign that is taking liberty with the truth and does it in a serial manner will end up paying for it in the end," he said. "But it's very unbecoming to a political figure like John McCain whose flag was planted long ago in ground that was about 'straight talk' and integrity."

The campaign has also been selective in its portrayal of Mr. McCain's running mate, Ms. Palin. The campaign's efforts to portray her as the bane of federal earmark spending was complicated by evidence that she had sought a great deal of federal money both as governor of Alaska and as mayor of Wasilla.

Ms. Palin has often told audiences about pulling the plug on the so-called Bridge to Nowhere, an expensive federal project to build a bridge to a sparsely populated Alaskan island that became a symbol of wasteful federal spending. "I told Congress, 'Thanks but no thanks' for that Bridge to Nowhere in Alaska," she said this week in Virginia.

But her position was more like "please" before it became "no thanks." Ms. Palin supported the bridge project while running for governor, and abandoned it after it became a national scandal and Congress said the state could keep the money for other projects. As a mayor and governor, she hired lobbyists to request millions in federal spending for Alaska. In an ABC News interview on Friday with Charles Gibson, Ms. Palin largely stuck to her version of the events.

Disputed characterizations are not uncommon on the trail. At a campaign stop this week in Missouri, Mr. McCain said that Mr. Obama's plan would "force small businesses to cut jobs and reduce wages and force families into a government-run health care system where a bureaucrat stands between you and your doctor."

Jonathan B. Oberlander, who teaches health policy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said that Mr. Obama's plan would not force families into a government-run system. "I would say this is an inaccurate and false characterization of the Obama plan," he said. "I don't use those words lightly."

But, it turns out, there's more: Tomorrow's St. Petersburg Times takes McCain to task thus for his distortions and perversions of fact:

This nation is facing real challenges on the economy, health care, jobs and the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. There are significant differences between how Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain would address them. But McCain's recent campaign ads suggest the most vital issues are whether Obama wanted to teach sex education to kindergarten children and whether he derided the Republican's running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, by talking about lipstick on a pig.

McCain's straight talk has become a toxic mix of lies and double-speak. It is leaving a permanent stain on his reputation for integrity, and it is a short-term strategy that eventually will backfire with the very types of independent-thinking voters that were so attracted to him.

The sex education ad says that Obama supported "comprehensive sex education" for kindergarten children. Graphics then appear with a voice-over saying: "Learning about sex before learning to read?"

The facts: Obama, while a state lawmaker in Illinois, supported a measure to provide older students with age and developmentally appropriate sex education. Younger children, such as those kindergarten-age, would be taught "age-appropriate" things such as how to protect themselves from sexual predators. The legislation was widely backed by the state PTA and the Illinois Public Health Association. Parents could choose to opt out of any instruction for their children.

But in McCain's campaign playbook, this responsible legislation becomes fodder for a grotesque distortion as a way to instill fear in voters.

As to the lipstick-on-a-pig controversy, McCain's campaign has purposely twisted the way Obama used that expression in a recent speech in Virginia. A McCain campaign ad claims that Obama was directing an insult to Palin who, during the Republican National Convention, characterized hockey moms like herself as pit bulls with lipstick.

The truth: Obama used the phrase, which he had used before, to attack McCain's claim that he'll reform Washington while retaining the policies of President Bush. After using the lipstick-on-a-pig phrase, Obama said, "You can wrap an old fish in a piece of paper called change. It's still going to stink after eight years."

McCain's faux chivalrous outrage over Obama's purported insult is beneath him. He has been a serious public servant willing to say unpopular truths when he thought it best for the country, but he's more than willing in this election to put his name on campaign lies. The leader who says he would rather lose an election than lose a war now risks losing his reputation in an attempt to win the White House. 

To use anew a GOP meme they deployed to the point of hackneyed during their campaign against then-President Clinton vis-a-vis Monica Lewinsky and the Whitewater development: "So where's the outrage?"

Or what stands in the way of outrage?

=============

AND JUST A REMINDER ABOUT THIS MEME WORTH SPREADING AROUND AS A "WHISPERING CAMPAIGN" "east side, west side, all around the town," to borrow from the songwriter:

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.

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NOW HERE'S A MEME WORTH SPREADING THROUGH THE AGENCY OF A PRACTICALLY FREE WHISPERING CAMPAIGN:

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.

The which may be good news--for swindlers and confidence artists fond of exploiting high unemployment and general socioeconomic uncertainty to market what are essentially "make-work/fake-work" scams under the illusion of creating good-paying work for such who, for reasons outside their control, cannot find employment. In particular:

• the elderly, blind and such with mental or emotional disorders;
• stay-at-home mothers needing to care for infants or elderly relatives;
• welfare cases who, despite "reasonable efforts" under workfare schemes, cannot find stable employment;
• those residing in communities considered "company towns" tied to only one particular industry as is in a state of decline, or close to it; and
• those residing in economically-disadvantaged communities to the point of having to move elsewhere just to find work.

And those behind such "make-work" schemes will seek to defend their "envelope-stuffing" and "product assembly" operations as "creating badly-needed work to keep people busy and employed in otherwise difficult times," all the while claiming "tax credits" on what is essentially illegal or devious activity.

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STICKING WITH INDECISION 2008 FOR THE MOMENT, JOHN McCAIN'S SUGGESTING THAT HIS RIVAL BARACK OBAMA WAS PUSHING "SEX EDUCATION FOR KINDERGARTNERS" in Illinois public schools--in fact, it was to teach those in Kindergarten about the differences between "good touch" and "bad touch"--along with smacking of fatuousity, brings up an interesting fact I came across as might relate:

Those who have studied dolphin behaviour, both captive and in the wild, have noted where infant male dolphins will have brief, if unproductive, sexual episodes with its mother within days of birth, while the infant is still nursing on its mother's milk ... perhaps one of the earliest instances in the animal world where offspring are taught "the facts of life" in a beautiful and yet natural way.

(I say "unproductive" inasmuch as male dolphins don't become sexually mature until around 4-6 years of age, depending on their being in the wild or in a dolphinarium. In any case, pre-pubescent, yet instructive, sexual play among dolphins continues off and on after weaning, becoming all the more serious about a year before reaching their flowering with a sexually-mature, yet inexperienced maternally, female being "asked" by the pod to gently introduce male dolphins approaching adolescence to sexual matters through instructive sexual play in the "where do babies really come from" vein.)

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MEANWHILE, THE ABSENCE OF McCAIN AND PALIN FROM THE LINEUP OF THE ANNUAL "VALUES VOTERS SUMMIT"--REALLY NOTHING MORE THAN PATHETIC BROMIDES AND PLATITUDES of Religiopolitical Right "talking points" and memes so far distanced from Reality to make any sense--is not being missed, as Right Wing Watch thus explaineth:

As we noted last week, both John McCain and Sarah Palin seemed to be intentionally avoiding being seen in public with the Relgious Right.  And that indeed seems to be the case:

At this year’s conference, Romney will be a headliner tomorrow night, Huckabee appears by video Saturday, and McCain… won’t be there at all. Despite being in Washington D.C. for the day on Saturday with no public appearances, the Arizona senator isn't expected to take up the offer to speak at the summit, organized by the Family Research Council’s legislative arm and co-sponsored by the likes of Focus on the Family and Gary Bauer’s “American Values” group.

According to The Brody File, Palin was actually scheduled to appear but then pulled out at the last minute, just as she did with Phyllis Schlafly's reception at the Republican convention, but offered to send a video message, which organizer's of the Values Voter Summit dismissed as "not enough." 

But just because Palin and McCain don't want to be seen with the Right doesn't mean that the Right is holding it against them.  In fact, the Right seems to fully understand that McCain has already caved to them and thus they are perfectly happy with his efforts to distance himself from them in order to get back to pretending to be a maverick: 

John McCain won't attend a gathering of religious conservatives this weekend--and the Republican presidential nominee won't have to ask forgiveness.

The Arizona senator's selection of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate has appeased the evangelical and social conservatives who form his party's core voters. Now, they are letting him know that he doesn't need to further demonstrate his fealty.

Last year, McCain felt compelled to appear at the Values Voter Summit in Washington to woo the religious conservatives who have long mistrusted him. That's not necessary this time: members of the movement now ``know exactly what's going on,'' said Phil Burress, president of Citizens for Community Values in Ohio and a summit attendee.

``I understand if he thinks he's got us,'' said Burress, who led Ohio's 2004 effort to ban gay marriage. ``The Palin appointment guaranteed his base.''

...

``If he can spend his time somewhere else gathering votes, then that's where he should be,'' Burress said. ``The important thing is winning,'' he said, reflecting a new pragmatism from evangelicals who have been slow to embrace McCain.

...

Richard Land, a leader of the 18 million-member Southern Baptist convention, said conservatives appreciate McCain's efforts and don't expect him to make their agenda a cornerstone of his campaign in the closing two months of the election, at least publicly.

``Actions speak louder than words and Sarah Palin speaks not just volumes, but a whole library,'' Land said.

As well, we should also address Sarah Palin's associations with a "deviant and heretical" brand of End-Times Revivalist teaching known as "Latter Rain" and certain of its sacraments, which could influence her Presidential role if and when the time comes. And influence such to the point of the "New World Order" exploiting same more so than would be the (perceived) case under "liberals" or "closet socialists."

=============

A COUPLE OF ARTICLES WORTH YOUR READING ONLINE as deal with the current state of electoral affairs:

• From the Lone Star Iconoclast, Don M. Fisher observes how the McCain/Palin campaign is targeting the "trailer trash" vote--the same kind, it turns out, more than likely to watch, and accept as truth, the distorted Weltanschauung according to Fox Prolefeed.
• And for those still hard-wired in John McCain's belief that "we are all Georgians" in the wake of Russia's lockstep into South Ossetia and Abkhazia, this op-ed from the Jewish weekly Forward suggests "not so fast." (As in noting where the Georgian regime has a very poor record of respecting human rights and overzealous use of torture and fear against real or suspected dissidents.)

*************

CLOSING OUT TODAY, SOME FINAL PARTING SHOTS FROM "THE SCOOP" per the Minnesota State Fair Daily News of its traditional closing day since 1939, none other than Labour Day:

Steve Grans would like to give a shout out to Joe Stewart, a Park N Ride employee at the I-94 Snelling lot. Joe called to inform them of a potential car break-in and then assisted in the apprehension of one of the three people who were arrested. A big thank you and round of State Fair applause!

KF Anytime you need assistance with your Post-its just give me a call. I won't be too far away. BD

Happy 45th anniversary to Sandra--a loooooona, Loooooona time of a little bit of miss and a lot, a lot of bliss with love from Peter, AKA the Strawberry Man

Hey Gate 15 Admissions--you guys rock!

It has been a good fair because Burt is still in love with Patty!

Thank you to my team at the Bandshell. Al, Donna and Don, you're the best!--Jayne

Kermit, cancel our eye doctor appt. The reason you couldn't read Bill's name tag was because it was upside down. Somebody please help Bill.

KF since we're relatively close to Canada and Mexico what do you say you just take over the entirety of North America? BD and JR

Thanks to Eugene Olson from all of the ramp ticket takers at the Coliseum for the cookies, they were great!

John at Como ticket gate here is your own special jingle from your morning wake-up crew, "As you close the gate in 2008 keep us in mind until 2009!"

Happy 10th Full-Time Fair Steve Grans! Thanks for keeping us rollin to and from the fair! Your Gransportation crew.

T.T. have a great day 12! A.H.

Como parking crew, thanks for waking up with our morning jingle!

CD, AW and LG, keep playing those showtunes!! BD

From the short cane man on the hill to all: you are the greatest. Stay well, see you next year.

I'm a big farm hand, happy and cute. Here is my clipboard here is my badge. When you get me steamed up I will shout. The tractor hats are just for the kids.

BES, BM and KF thank you for being amazing bosses! From your crew!

Congratulations to Mike and Sharon on their midnight wedding reception with a chivari!

Hope everyone had a great fair, see you next year!

*************

AND ONE THING MORE, AFTER PAUL HARVEY: Spread what I said in the second paragraph of this item around to all you know. Such could be a perfect meme as could undermine McCain/Palin, if done correctly.

Preferably through word of mouth "whispering campaigns" done impromptu among your acquaintenances. 

more the engrish!

THE ACME OF HYPOCRITICAL DOUBLETHINK GALORE IN SCANDAL FORM, by way of this video (hat tip to Brilliant @ Breakfast) as should be seen to be understood and appreciated in context:

Any questions?

*************

EEN DING RASISTE EN WIT-SUPREMACISTE NET KAN NIE WAG: Rosetta Stone ("The Fastest Way To Learn a Language ... Guaranteed!") coming out in Afrikaans, and expecting same to snap it up rather quickly "out of solidarity for our oppressed White Afrikaner Brethren in South Africa."

Especially ahead of the Day of the Vow anniversary on 16 December.

Too, maybe it was time to ask for evidence of the current South African Government "oppressing" or otherwise "undermining" the Afrikaner Peoples, let alone pandering to racist feelings for raising funds towards their "evacuation" as will be mysteriously diverted to "more pressing needs" @ the last minute.

*************

AND SO MUCH FOR THE NOTION THAT BARACK OBAMA'S "LIPSTICK ON A PIG" CRACK WAS SEXIST AND GENERALLY CRASS: The following video confirms that John McCain, who made the distractionary charge in question, actually used the remark himself earlier this year:

What say you now, Senator McCain?