We are going to round them all up.

Abramoff Sentenced To Four More Years (click here)
By John Bresnahan
Sep 4, 2008
...Justice Deptartment officials, pointing to Abramoff''s extensive cooperation with federal investigators, had urged U.S. District Judge Ellen Huvelle to sentence Abramoff to an additional 39 months behind bars stemming for his role in the Washington corruption case that rocked Congress and the Bush administration. Abramoff's attorneys were seeking even less timefor the one-time K Street star, but Huvelle rejected those requests....

Former Abramoff lobbyist, Hill aide indicted (click here)
By ERICA WERNER – Sep 8, 2008
WASHINGTON (AP) — A one-time congressional aide who went on to work with jailed lobbyist Jack Abramoff was arrested Monday and accused of conspiring to corrupt government officials including his former boss, current Rep. John Doolittle, R-Calif.
Kevin Ring, 37, pleaded not guilty to a 10-count federal indictment that accuses him of conspiring with Abramoff to win assistance from congressional and executive-branch officials by giving them things of value, and helping them skirt requirements to report those gifts.
He appeared in federal court unshaven, his hair rumpled, wearing shorts and a T-shirt and occasionally fighting back tears as he exchanged glances with his wife.
Ring's lawyer said that despite cooperating voluntarily for two years, Ring was not allowed to surrender himself....

...David Safavian, the Bush administration's former top procurement official, (click here) was sentenced to 18 months in prison in October 2006. Safavian, the only scandal defendant to take his case to court, was found guilty of covering up his dealings with Abramoff. In July, a federal appeals court overturned his conviction. The Justice Department plans to retry him....


Vice President Dick Cheney, shown at a White House dinner last week, was sued to ensure no presidential records are destroyed or handled in a way that would make them unavailable. (CHIP SOMODEVILLA/GETTY IMAGES)
WASHINGTON - A federal judge yesterday ordered Dick Cheney to preserve a wide range of the records from his time as vice president.
The decision by US District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly is a setback for the Bush administration in its effort to promote a narrow definition of materials that must be safeguarded under by the Presidential Records Act....




Anti-Palin rally calls for Colberg removal (click here)
TROOPERGATE: More than 1,000 protesters gather in downtown Anchorage park.
By KYLE HOPKINS
khopkins@adn.com
Published: September 28th, 2008 12:03 AMLast Modified: September 28th, 2008 02:46 AM
A protest slamming Gov. Sarah Palin's handling of the state's so-called Troopergate investigation -- and calling for the attorney general to lose his job -- drew more than 1,000 people to the Delaney Park Strip in Anchorage on Saturday....

Canada Increases Swap Agreement With Fed to $30 Bln

Canada has national health care. Just thought I'd remind everyone of that. They respect their citizens. As a rule they don't exploit them. Ah, yep. Ain't life amazin', huh? Who ever thought a bunch of southerners would be the heroes of the day. So, cool.



Federal surplus reaches almost $10B (click here)
Paul Vieira , Canwest News Service
Published: Monday, September 29, 2008
OTTAWA - The federal government posted a surplus for the last fiscal year of just less than $10 billion, the Department of Finance reported Monday, slightly below what had been anticipated.
According to the 2007-08 annual financial report, the Canadian government recorded a $9.6-billion surplus for the 12-month period ended March 31, just off the $10.2-billion target anticipated in the last budget.
Ottawa missed the forecast as revenue was $2.1 billion lower than forecast, whereas expenses were $1.7 billion less than anticipated. Also, public-debt charges were $200 million more than expected....

I take it Hank didn't get an 'Attaboy.' Go figure.

Above Gold. Below the Dow. All isn't lost.

Paulson missed the mark by miles. Time for a change in administration. Bring back O'Neill ! Come on now, the market is still at 10,000.



...No state in the country cast as many votes against the measure as Texas, President Bush’s home, where the measure was defeated 22-9. (Not a single vote was cast for the measure in Arizona and Alaska, the homes of John McCain and Sarah Palin. Illinois, Barack Obama’s home, tied 9-9 and the lone Republican congressman from Joe Biden’s home of Delaware voted for the plan.)...

Impeach. Bush. NOW ! There will be no scapegoating of Pelosi.

Everyone leave on recess for elections back home? Go with pride. This mess doesn't belong to the Democrats. Go campaign and bring home a majority !

NATIONAL AFFAIRS
Failure To Cooperate (click here)
Report: Top Bush aides ducked queries on prosecutor firings
By Michael Isikoff NEWSWEEK
Published Sep 29, 2008

Karl Rove was one of a number of former White House officials who declined to cooperate with the Justice Department inspector general's probe of the U.S. attorney firings.

...According to a blistering new report by the Justice Department inspector general released Monday, Rove was one of a number of former White House officials (including ex-White House counsel and Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers) who declined to cooperate with its investigation into the U.S. attorney firings-even though the current White House counsel's office encouraged them to do so....

Russia's Vnesheconombank lends $50 bln to struggling banks

Yury Makushin, Deputy Head of the Representative office of Vnesheconombank (click here) in the USA, addresses the Russian Conference

Will the fun ever stop? Somalia pirates free hijacked Egyptian ship.

The pirates are having a good ole time, Aye, me hearties ! (click here)
A Ukrainian ship seized by pirates off the coast of Somalia was carrying 33 tanks and other weapons, the Ukrainian defence minister has confirmed.

Pirates had previously seized a number of passenger and cargo ships, spurring armed intervention from the French and Security Council action authorizing Member States to aggressively combat piracy in Somalia's lawless waters. The involvement of heavy weaponry, though -- even if the pirates have no interest, or use, really, for the tanks -- have made this chapter in the saga a natural headline-grabber....

House vote is next big hurdle for bailout plan

Touching. That 'lack of awareness' demonstrated by McCain was the same as in that Baghdad neighborhood so peaceful you could hear a pin drop, so long as one wore a bullet proof vest.

VOTE NO !!

OTHERWISE, be prepared for a legal cadre of lawsuits to displace the legislated bailout as unconstitutional.

Once the Republicans 'got the swing' of sapping the USA Treasury for their failed policies, they simply didn't stop.

Paulson ends Treasury Secretary career in failure.

When Paul O'Neill resigned as US Treasury Secretary and followed that decision up with his book, "The Price of Loyalty: George W. Bush, the White House, and the Education of Paul O'Neill" written by Ron Suskind which basically stated Bush's economic policies were irresponsible; no one paid attention. As a side note, Paul O'Neill met his wife and graduated from a high school in Alaska.

He was replaced by John Snow, who left under speculation of ethical impropriety regarding his brokers purchased $10 million of debt issued by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Then comes along Paulson and somehow he was supposed to be "God's Gift to the USA" in that the CEO of Goldman-Sachs would be atuned to issues of fiscal responsibility and make all legislative changes since the demise of Glass-Steagall work for America. In the course of his Cabinet presence he managed to manipulate the status of Goldman-Sachs, placing it as the world's advisor to attained wealth. He stated that the bailing out of AIG was due to the fact so many Americans would be disaffected by its failure. Oh.

Goldman Sachs had up to $20 bln AIG risk-NY Times (Paulson protected GS with $85 B taxpayer bailout)
Source: Reuters
NEW YORK, Sept 28 (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) had as much as $20 billion at risk had the insurer American International Group Inc (AIG.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) collapsed, the New York Times said on Sunday.
Goldman was AIG's largest trading partner, the newspaper said, citing six people close to the insurer. A collapse of AIG threatened to leave a hole of as much as $20 billion in Goldman, the newspaper said, citing several of the people.
The Wall Street bank told the newspaper that it was never imperiled by AIG's troubles. Spokesman Lucas van Praag also disputed the $20 billion figure, saying it did not account for collateral and hedges that Goldman employed to reduce risk.
The AIG bailout came after the New York-based insurer saw losses spiral on credit default swaps, which are insurance contracts whose value is tied to underlying securities such as mortgages and corporate debt.

I could go on and on about how Paulson abused his power to benefit Goldman-Sachs, but, that is a given.


What is more incredible is that Bush vetoed The 2008 Farm Bill which, of course, was overridden by the House and Senate.


Within the Farm Bill was a provision introduced by Senator Carl Levin (D-MI) that was originally introduced as Senate Bill S.2058 by later attached to the Farm Bill of 2008. That provision was specifically designed to 'close the loophole' that allowed the exploitation by Enron. THAT exploitation was engineered by lobbiests working with McCain's current economic advisor Phil Gramm. The Democrats have been trying to 'head this mess' off for some time now, but, was continually obstructed from doing so by the Republican ideologists through the powers of the Executive Branch.


The point is that within 'the troubled waters' that now beset the USA is a core group of incompetents. Leading the list is Phil Gramm, the ideologist from Texas, that opposed the long lived Glass-Steagall Act replacing it with the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 2000; a Republican dreamscape of deregulation that allowed the markets to "work as they should." The Glass-Steagall Act was a well established 'wall' that was passed during The Great Depression to separate investment risk from average Bank depositors.


While Wall Street types will debate that the demise of Glass-Steagall was not the reason for the fiscal collapse of the USA Economy, the fact that Gramm is at the center of all these measures and they all play an intricate part in the current economic departure from insuring National Security of the USA; is more than noteworthy.


John McCain stated, the director of the SEC should be fired, when the truth actually was that Phil Gramm should be exposed for his incompetency and willingness to 'play ball' with lobbiests interested in exploitation of this country while furthering 'a Republican ideology' that Bush characterized 'in its failure' as 'a Wall Street drunk.'


To risk more Republican influence within the fiscal well being of the USA, is to risk the security of the nation.


Cost of Iraq War and Nation Building (click here)


The Day when changing a consonant from 'm' to 'b' insued the defeat of National Security of the USA.


...Bush's request for $87 billion to underwrite the costs of his war on terror formally arrived on Capitol Hill yesterday (click here), but it has been a source of pain and embarrassment for the administration for nearly two weeks. Perhaps that's why officials at the White House and the Pentagon spent 12 months stonewalling and sidestepping questions about how much the war in Iraq will cost.
Ever since former White House budget chief Lawrence Lindsey slipped up a year ago and admitted that an invasion and occupation of Iraq could cost between $100 billion and $200 billion, the administration has been playing hide-and-seek with the numbers. Budget figures have trickled out from various administration offices, but most have been heavily qualified, broad, or contradictory. And, until this month, they never came from the president himself....

Top Republican on 'Paulson plan'

California Budget Must Prioritize Fire Safety - July 12, 2008

Signing the budget ended bitter partisan deadlock on how to close the $15.2 billion deficit (click here)
By Justin Ewers
Posted September 24, 2008
...Neither Democrats nor Republicans seemed pleased with the final product, especially after Schwarzenegger's last-minute, line-item veto of $510 million in funds for HIV/AIDS education and a tax rebate program for low-income elderly renters, among other programs. "I would like to say it's finally over with, but really the state is no better off than it was before," said Senate Majority Leader Don Perata. "We have simply rolled the problem into next year... There isn't much to be proud of."...




...For the new budget year, in addition to increasing the firefighting budget, legislative Democrats have proposed doubling the amount of money available from the new property insurance fee the governor is promoting as he travels the state....



Posted by: thepinetree on 09/26/2008 05:12 PM
Updated by: Kim_Hamilton on 09/26/2008 06:43 PM
Expires: 01/01/2013 12:00 AM
Fire Danger Remains High Despite Cooler Weather....Residents urged not to become complacent (click here)
San Andreas, CA....As fall begins and students have returned to school, many people believe that fire season also ends at the same time. CAL FIRE is reminding all Californians that fire danger remains high across the state and even though the threat has decreased in some areas, the chance of large and damaging fires still exists.....

Give the money to the States !! Let them administer their own fiscal recovery.

Another tropical disturbance off the Yucatan Peninsula. There is flooding in the Midwest along with tornadoes.

The USA will never recuperate the $700 billion. Some of these homes are not salvagable and were not insured for the damages they sustained after tornadoes, floods and hurricanes. This 'bail-out' is simply a matter of 'dumping' a negligence of a Climate Policy on the people of this country.

The recuperation the USA will ever see out of this bailout is an increase in the labor market when it comes to operating bulldozers.

Let it go !!!



Flood aftermath driving U City family from long-time home (click here)
By Margaret Gillerman
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
09/28/2008
University City — Leniel Fields sleeps in what's left of his blue-and-white 1994 Thunderbird — with a pillow, a Red Cross blanket and a Bible.
Fields, 41, a forklift operator, was chased from his home two weeks ago by River Des Peres floodwater, which ruined his car and ravaged the modest brick bungalow his mother owns and that he has called home on and off for 33 years.
After the Sept. 14 flood, University City condemned the house and told Fields, his mother and younger brother it was not safe to sleep there.
Electrical repairs alone would cost $4,050, according to one estimate. The family needs a furnace, water heater, washer, dryer and at least one car — plus replacements for Fields' younger brother's furniture, computer, clothing and most of his school books....


There is flooding and damage to people's homes and lives, but, nothing is more important to the media of the USA than the credit crunch of the Republican Infrastructure. Amazing. What good does it do to salvage a mortgage on homes that aren't habitable?


September 27, 2008
1143 AM EST

Station ID: 07194500
Name: Arkansas River near Muskogee, OK
Flow Rate: 57600.00 cfs
Percentile: 92%
Temperature: 86.90 F
Stage: 21.86 ft
Flood Stage: 28 ft


Tornado Storm Report:
2008-09-26 10:53:00 EDT
Lat/Lon: 36.23,-77.11
Location: Bertie
Tornado reported by multiple sources near Aulander and moving north. (Akq)

Tornado Storm Report:
2008-09-13 21:18:00 EDT
Lat/Lon: 42.38,-83.45
Location: Wayne
Law enforcement and media reported a tornado touchdown near Wilcox Rd and Schoolcraft Rd. A roof was reportedly ripped off an apartment building. (Dtx)

Give $700 billion to the States based on need. Extend credit through the States. Extend Unemployment. Facilitate Infrastructure Rebuilding.

Like I said, McCain's visit to DC was simply Grandstanding. It achieved nothing, but, insisted on promoting his crony agenda while it gave him an excuse for a poor performance in the debate, "After all, as his campaign cited, he suspended his campaign." That was his choice and it he choses liability over resolution, what does that tell anyone about what a McCain White House would be like? Chronic infighting and never getting anything done. JUST LIKE BUSH !

I have not been to Baghdad. I have not been to Afghanistan. I have not been Waziristan. I have not been to Russia.

“That Alaska has a very narrow maritime border between a foreign country, Russia, and on our other side, the land — boundary that we have with — Canada.”

Tell me Alaskans aren't this paranoid.

They don't believe in the work the USA State Department does?

If not, then it tells plenty about the need for a change in administration in DC !

"I visited Afghanistan and I traveled to Waziristan and I traveled to these places and I know what our security requirements are." McCain stated.

And he still makes bad decisions.

...At a news conference shortly after their outing, Mr. McCain, an Arizona Republican, and his three Congressional colleagues described Shorja as a safe, bustling place full of hopeful and warmly welcoming Iraqis — “like a normal outdoor market in Indiana in the summertime,” offered Representative Mike Pence, an Indiana Republican who was a member of the delegation....

...“What are they talking about?” Ali Jassim Faiyad, the owner of an electrical appliances shop in the market, said Monday. “The security procedures were abnormal!”
The delegation arrived at the market, which is called Shorja, on Sunday with more than 100 soldiers in armored Humvees — the equivalent of an entire company — and attack helicopters circled overhead, a senior American military official in Baghdad said. The soldiers redirected traffic from the area and restricted access to the Americans, witnesses said, and sharpshooters were posted on the roofs. The congressmen wore bulletproof vests throughout their hourlong visit.
“They paralyzed the market when they came,” Mr. Faiyad said during an interview in his shop on Monday. “This was only for the media.”...

Storm expected to downgrade to post-tropical before making landfall on Sunday

UNISYS Water Vapor North and West Hemisphere Satellite (click here for 12 hour loop)

The Maritimes are being warned to brace for a wet and windy weekend as tropical storm Kyle gains strength and slowly moves north.
Environment Canada issued special weather warnings on Friday for New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island as the storm tracked northward at about 19 kilometres an hour.
Kyle's maximum sustained winds increased to about 95 km/h by early Friday in the Atlantic Ocean. It's about 715 kilometres southwest of Bermuda, where a tropical storm watch has been issued. The British territory is expected to receive about 75 millimetres of rain by the end of Saturday....

They are doing just fine !

The DOW Today at 2:20 PM or 1420 military time (click here) show strength in the Telecommunication Sector.


Market Summary
At 2:18 PM ET: Although the broad indexes are mixed, most stocks are lower in trading today on the NYSE as declining issues outpace advancing issues by 3.2 to 1. The S.&P. 500 is down 0.47%. Among individual stocks, the top percentage losers in the S.&P. 500 are Washington Mutual Inc. and Wachovia Corporation



...J.P. Morgan said it is acquiring "Washington Mutual's banks (click here), not the holding company." Being left on behind are the assets and liabilities of Washington Mutual Inc., the holding company which includes unsecured senior debt, subordinated debt and preferred of Washington Mutual's banks. The unsecured debt amounts to roughly $20 billion....

How many people today are proud they stood against change in SSI after the elections of 2004 ?

This is the end of the Republican domination of the USA. They need to be 'bailed out' because their programs DON'T work. Cutting taxes while pandering to and indulging Corporate Ideations DOES NOT WORK ! Its painful to watch them go through it, isn't it?

Yep. The Republicans can't even agree on an approach to the dilemma Paulson presented. They think he's a genius because they get a chance to write legislation that will further destroy the tax infrastructure to the USA while they continue to propagate their "W"rong headed ideation.

Let it go. We need to start over and it probably had to come to this. The strong will survive.

...The Bush Administration has been making alarming claims that the current Social Security program is "in crisis" and is unsustainable. These exaggerations simply are not true. Estimates by the Social Security trustees (using rather pessimistic assumptions) and the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) indicate that the trust fund is solvent for another 38 to 48 years if we do nothing. In other words, Social Security is not going broke anytime soon. Despite the fact that the Social Security trust fund is as robust today as it has been in recent years, the administration proposes to radically change the Social Security program by cutting benefits while at the same time allowing workers to create individual private accounts. While the exact provisions are not clear, any privatization proposal will not, in and of itself, do anything to ameliorate the shortfall projected in 2042 or 2052....

When the next President of the USA finishes spending $700 billion we will have a new infrastructure, a far better domestic product and will be able to bolster SSI as well as increase benefits that were lost during this crisis.

Spending $700 billion on a financial sector bailout won't lower the price of gas or the price of food. Charting a path into the future is easy, it is letting go of the past that is difficult.

No More Illegal Wars.

Stand your ground, when its established on a moral and truthful basis, it doesn't give way !

One of the lousiest things I heard on a 'talking head show' when a Senior Citizen asked '? an expert ?' about how people on fixed incomes get by with increasing prices of gas and food; he stated; "We live in the greatest country on Earth. You can still get a job at any age and I encourage all those that need so, to do so." They are lousy bastards and we don't need them at the top of any government, yet along the USA !

I

DON'T

THINK

SO !!!!!!!!!!!

We need to get to the other side of these elections !

We need to be Democrat from bottom to top !

We need it now !

Wall Street made a fatal mistake.

They followed the corrupt into hell !

Let me see if I get this right. The USA is supposed to sponsor a debt of $700 billion US. When are the Democrats simply going to walk away ?

There is no way this country should be a sponsor to fiscal irresponsiblity. No way. This is pure unadulterated greed. Nothing short of it.
As soon as Wall Streets smells money they are off to the races. Why does anyone believe things are going to be different?
This is fraud and everyone knows it.
The USA needs to take the $700 billion and rebuild its infrastructure. It needs not be thrown into an international glut of money for the sake of bouyancy to a failed Treasury Department.

There is no job market. There is no growth in the USA. And the only 'bounce' the credit markets are getting is the recuperated debt that the Treasury Secretary is anxious about because Goldman-Sachs is going to be next. There is conflict of interest everywhere in this mess and there is no way there should be a bailout for anyone. The ONLY way those monies should be spent is to put Americans back to work and rebuild our infrastructure. This spending will only lead to more and more of the same and the USA Dollar will be worthless. This is a fraudulent economy and we shouldn't be participating in it.

It is just too bad. I don't believe how completely stupid this is. Bush is pushing for this now because he'll be out of office and when he's gone this type of cronyism will be a thing of the past. From Tom DeLay to Bush, the 'ride to Easy Street' is over. This will only cause more problems with a new administration and we'll be bogged down in Bush Fiscal Irresponsiblity for at least four years.

They need to suffer the consequences.

...The plan currently being debated by (click here) Congress would help put a floor under distressed asset prices, improve transparency of asset valuations and restore liquidity to markets, said S&P.
"If the plan can restore confidence in the accuracy of bank balance sheets, we believe it would allow fixed-income investors to focus again on fundamentals when analyzing these firms (These businesses are crooks. The average investor doesn't know how to make head or tails of the practices of these firms since Paulson and Bush took over. This so called bailout is to attempt to bring about a balance sheet everyone can have confidence in. This is not the way to do things. Bailing out crooks only leads to more of the same. The world is doing fine without them. This isn't the way to improve market performance. It is done through tangible investments that have a future of success. This isn't the way its supposed to be done.) and making investment decisions, not on the very real potential for insolvency precipitated by the current marketplace volatility," analyst Tanya Azarchs said in a statement.
However, the bailout, while providing short-term relief, is not a complete solution to the problems in the financial sector, she said. There is a risk that a rescue of this magnitude may discourage banks from changing their behavior....

The ONLY reason to throw money at the markets is if there was a subtantial failure in the infrastruture. There isn't. Paulson is the biggest song and dance man ever to exist. There is nothing that drastic about saving these firms. They need to do it on their own or get out of the way. This is just completely wrong. They want loans, then maybe, but only maybe. This is Paulson reaching for his precious 14,000. That is all this is and he's been manipulating this mess for two years now.

This is a storm no one bothered to name with 45 mph.

September 25, 2008
1915Z