Palin's performance and the power of low expectations

clipped from www.nytimes.com We cannot recall when there were lower expectations for a candidate than the ones that preceded Sarah Palin’s appearance in Thursday night’s vice-presidential debate with Joseph Biden. After a series of stumbling interviews that raised serious doubts even among conservatives about her fitness to serve as vice president, Ms. Palin had to do little more than say one or two sensible things and avoid an election-defining gaffe. By that standard, but only by that standard, the governor of Alaska did well.

News flash --- Bill O'Reilly is a douche

I'll be so happy when Bill O'Reilly is dead. One less belligerent boor clamoring for attention. Good to see that Barney Frank was willing to stand up to him and tell him the truth. He's a ranting, boorish, stupid bully who needs to have that fact pointed out to him on every occasion. Hopefully someone will point it out to him with a .22 to the occiput.

clipped from www.huffingtonpost.com FRANK: Bill, here's the problem with going on your show. You start ranting. And the only way to respond is almost to look as boorish as you. O'REILLY: This is why Americans don't trust the government. FRANK: No, this is why your stupidity gets in the way of rational discussion. FRANK: You think toughness is yelling and ranting and trying to bully. It's not going to work with me. FRANK: .(INAUDIBLE) right now. I didn't say solid, I didn't say swell. You distort consistently. And you think ranting and raving. FRANK: You won't have a rational discussion. O'REILLY: That's a joke. FRANK: The joke is to think I could have a rational discussion with you. FRANK: You are the most -- you don't listen at all, or maybe you are listening or you're too dumb to understand. O'REILLY: Congressman, thanks very much. We got to run.

The Onion on the bailout: 0% ear-marked for long-term solutions

clipped from www.theonion.com

Bank chief exec has better solutions that bailing out Wall Street

That last line says it all. Have we heard anything other than breathless hysteria from the mainstream media? It also sickens me that it was the Republicans in the House who stopped this bailout in its tracks, and not the Democrats.

clipped from www.bizjournals.com A significant and immediate tax credit for financial institutions to purchase homes would be a more effective solution for the financial crisis than the proposed $700 billion federal bailout, says BB&T Chief Executive John Allison. The federal government should also buy homes, and not securities backed by mortgages, he wrote in a Sept. 23 letter to the U.S. Congress. “This is a housing value crisis,” Allison wrote. “It does not make economic sense to purchase credit card loans, automobile loans, etc. The government should directly purchase housing assets, not real estate bonds.” Allison also said it is “inappropriate that the debate is largely being shaped by the financial institutions who made very poor decisions.”

Wall Street bailout ransom note

clipped from pics.livejournal.com

Palin's absurdity on display

I'm not Sam Harris' biggest fan by any means, but this article is spot-on. We need elitism of some form when it comes to picking our leaders. Here's a great example demonstrating that principle:

clipped from www.newsweek.com Watching her deny to Gibson that she had ever harbored the slightest doubt about her readiness to take command of the world's only superpower, one got the feeling that Palin would gladly assume any responsibility on earth: "Governor Palin, are you ready at this moment to perform surgery on this child's brain?" "Of course, Charlie. I have several boys of my own, and I'm an avid hunter." "But governor, this is neurosurgery, and you have no training as a surgeon of any kind." "That's just the point, Charlie. The American people want change in how we make medical decisions in this country. And when faced with a challenge, you cannot blink." The prospects of a Palin administration are far more frightening, in fact, than those of a Palin Institute for Pediatric Neurosurgery.

The Great Schlep