Huhuhuh...he said "Persecuted"

It's worth listening to the whole thing, but shoot up to about 4:50 for the funny part:

Gotta love a good Bush gaffe. Nothing better to instill (or should I say install) confidence in our financial system...

Another Good Attack Ad

Seems the McCain campaign has gotten better with their attack ads:

This is the kinda thing I enjoy seeing in a bloody campaign. I hope to see Obama following suit with some better ads.

Sandra on Sarah

The hatred on the left is almost unbearable sometimes; so is their theology. I wince as I hear this venom. Explicit language ahead.

Is this what the left has turned into?

The Right Attitude

Wall Street's old hands not rattled by financial crisis
By David Caruso, The Associated Press

NEW YORK - Images of Wall Street's stunning stumble were everywhere this week, from photographs of weary traders to video of Lehman Brothers employees carrying boxes to the curb.

But if fear was in the air, you couldn't quite see it on the sidewalks of the financial district, or even the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Even before the market began a two-day rally Thursday, the atmosphere seemed to be one of uncertainty, not despair.

"I don't feel terrified. I don't feel panicked," said Doreen Mogavero, a floor trader for nearly three decades.

Without a doubt, she said, New York's investment community was experiencing "a rather difficult crisis of confidence," but one where people haven't given up hope that opportunities to make money are still out there, somewhere.

"You don't have quite the craziness that we used to have, say in the crash of '29 or the crash of '87, where there was frantic running around, screaming and yelling," she said Thursday on the exchange floor, surrounded by fellow traders who looked intent but calm.

Wall Street, after all, has seen bad times before.

Just seven Septembers ago, New York's financial center lay in literal ruins, with thousands dead from a terrorist attack, thousands more thrown out of work, and many hundreds of small Manhattan businesses destroyed.

How does this crisis compare? It doesn't, said Liz Berger, director of the Alliance for Downtown New York.

"We've been on the brink of catastrophe before, and not just financial market catastrophe," she said from her office, just a few blocks from new skyscrapers rising at ground zero. "Of course we're anxious. How can we not be? I think people are just shocked by the swiftness of the paradigm change. But if you look at the reality of the situation, this community has gone through so much, and it has always survived."

Every day is the end of the world as we know it; it always has been since the dawn of time. The trick to success is dealing with it, changing when you have to, moving on, and not to panic. We'll get through this one too.

Good Ole Ron

Right on target once again. Thanks to the Libertarian Think Tank for this one.

The Good News and the Bad News

AP
Stocks soar as officials confirm gov't rescue plan
Friday September 19, 11:47 am ET
By Tim Paradis, AP Business Writer
Wall Street extends big rally on bank rescue hopes, temporary ban on short sales of financials

NEW YORK (AP) -- Wall Street extended a huge rally Friday as investors stormed back into the market, relieved that the government plans to rescue banks from billions of dollars in bad debt. The Dow Jones industrials rose more than 375 points, giving them a massive gain of more than 785 points over two days, and Treasurys fell as money flowed into equities.

The good news is, for now, I'm making some money back I lost in the recent past. The bad news is, it's just kicking the can down the road and will lead to bigger, more intrusive government, larger national debt, and the piper will STILL need to be paid down the road.

Next time it'll be even MORE expensive. Will the economy grow enough in the interim so we can afford it? No one knows. It's still being financed on the backs of the working people of America, all to bail out investors like me.

The Illuminatrix's Piece in the WSJ

Here's the piece that appeared in the WSJ on September 11th:

Democrats Need to Shake
The 'Elitist' Tag
By LYNN FORESTER DE ROTHSCHILD
If Barack Obama loses the presidential election, it may well be the result of a public perception that he is detached and elitist -- a politician whose expressions of empathy for hard-working Americans stem more from abstract solidarity than a real connection to the lives of millions of citizens.

Suggestions that Sen. Obama has failed to relate to working- and middle-class voters in swing states have dogged his campaign for months. His choice of Sen. Joseph Biden as his running mate only marginally corrects the problem.

While Obama supporters attempt to dismiss the charges about their candidate's perceived hauteur, they confuse privilege and elitism. Elitism is a state of mind, a view of the world that cannot be measured simply by one's net worth, position or number of houses. Throughout American history, there have been extremely wealthy figures who have devoted themselves to genuinely nonelitist principles. (Franklin Delano Roosevelt is probably the best-known example.) At the same time, many from modest backgrounds, like Harry Truman's foil, Thomas Dewey, personified elitism.

I'm a longtime Democrat. I worked for Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan and supported Sen. Hillary Clinton in her presidential campaign. But I must face the uncomfortable truth that liberal elitism has been a weakness of the Democratic Party for more than half a century. In 1952 and 1956, for example, Adlai Stevenson emerged as the presidential candidate of the party's "new politics" wing. But while Stevenson's stylish, articulate, high-brow manner thrilled the nation's intellectuals, he could never connect with large numbers of working-class Democrats who found him aloof and aristocratic.

The "new politics" Democrats have found their new, improved Stevenson in Mr. Obama. In spite of his lofty liberal rhetoric, Mr. Obama is not connecting to millions of middle- and working-class voters, as well as women voters of all classes. Not only is his legislative record scant on issues that make a difference in their lives, but his current campaign is based mainly on an assumption of his transcendence.

Despite Mr. Obama's assertions that his campaign is about "you," much of his campaign is, in fact, all about him. In the months since the primaries ended, his creation and display of a mock presidential seal with his name on it, his speech at a mass rally at the Prussian Victory Column in Berlin, and his insistence on delivering his acceptance speech in front of fabricated Greek columns in a stadium holding 80,000 chanting supporters have crossed the thin line that separates galvanizing voters and plain old demagoguery.

In this context, it should come as no surprise that Sarah Palin, mother of five, hockey mom turned governor and maverick reformer, would instantly zero in on the inherent weakness in Mr. Obama's candidacy, and contrast it with her own compelling life story.

It is ironic that the candidate who comes from a more privileged background -- John McCain -- can genuinely point to at least one crucial moment in his life when elitism went by the boards. Because John McCain's father was a high-ranking Navy Admiral, he was offered freedom from a Vietnamese prisoner of war camp. He refused, saying that he would leave only when every prisoner who had been captured before him was also released.

Mr. McCain can truthfully tell the story of when he refused to be treated as special, and stood unflinchingly beside less-privileged Americans. It is a story that suggests the way he would govern as president of the United States.

Mr. Obama cannot point to any analogue to Mr. McCain's service. As he talks of himself, and his supporters talk about the amazing Obamaness of Obama, it is no wonder that millions of Americans, including loyal Democrats, still question whether his presidency would reinforce the splendor of Barack Obama rather than protect them and enhance their lives.

My New Favorite Illuminatrix

Now of course, she married into it, but her last name certainly qualifies her as a card-carrying member :)

Watching her kick Brown's tush is a beautiful thing:




Once again we can see another weak-minded member of the media playing with the politics of identity. The Illuminatess MUST be an ELITIST because she is a member of the ELITE, Barack Obama can't be an ELITIST why? I guess because he is black. What a disgusting way to think. The naked prejudice and racism in the media once again reveals itself. Black people lack the qualities to be elitists because they are...?

Hat-tip to Yid with a Lid for finding this one.

Get Hell Out of My Way!

This as recorded by Bloomberg.com in this article:

Democratic Congress May Adjourn, Leave Crisis to Fed, Treasury

By Kristin Jensen

Sept. 18 (Bloomberg) -- The Democratic-controlled Congress, acknowledging that it isn't equipped to lead the way to a solution for the financial crisis and can't agree on a path to follow, is likely to just get out of the way.

Lawmakers say they are unlikely to take action before, or to delay, their planned adjournments -- Sept. 26 for the House of Representatives, a week later for the Senate. While they haven't ruled out returning after the Nov. 4 elections, they would rather wait until next year unless Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke, who are leading efforts to contain the crisis, call for help.

One reason, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said yesterday, is that ``no one knows what to do'' at the moment.

Sweet. Cry, run home to momma, afraid of the mess YOU and your cohorts caused. What a total wuss that man is. Now, if only they would resign.

An Attack Ad We Can Believe In

Finally, an on-target attack ad from the McCain Camp. Personally, I think this mortgage crisis is the BEST weapon McCain has (even though the situation sucks bigtime); this is a situation primarily caused by Clinton and big government; a crisis that McCain is on record for warning against, a crisis that HIS ideas to make the situation better was blocked by Democrats.

Anyway, without further ado, a wonderful attack ad; wonderful because it is as harsh as it is true: