NEW YORK TIMES: In one of the most dramatic days in Wall Street’s history, Merrill Lynch agreed to sell itself on Sunday to Bank of America for roughly $50 billion to avert a deepening financial crisis, while another prominent securities firm, Lehman Brothers, said it would seek bankruptcy protection and hurtled toward liquidation after it failed to find a buyer. The humbling moves, which reshape the landscape of American finance, mark the latest chapter in a tumultuous year in which once-proud financial institutions have been brought to their knees as a result of hundreds of billions of dollars in losses […]
HOMELAND INSECURITY: Big Brother’s Excellent Misadventure And Terrifying Constitutional Crisis
EDITOR’S NOTE: HIGHLY RECOMMENDED WASHINGTON POST: A Near-Meltdown As the election season got underway in early 2004, a secret battle over the legality of warrantless domestic surveillance brought the Bush administration to the brink of a mass exodus from the Justice Department and FBI. A guide to who knew and did what about the surveillance program: Dick Cheney The vice president, conceived and supervised the domestic surveillance program. He kept President Bush out of the loop on the legal crisis until it was nearly too late. David S. Addington Counsel to Vice President Cheney, fought against any concession to […]
SNL: Lipstick Traces
“A Nonpartisan Message From Governor Sarah Palin & Senator Hillary Clinton” HUFFINGTON POST: McCain spokeswoman Carly Fiorina has weighed in on the major issue of today, namely, 30 Rock creator Tina Fey’s portrayal of vice presidential contender Sarah Palin from this weekend’s Saturday Night Live. Fiorina, astonishingly, termed it “disrespectful.” […] In Fiorina’s opinion, Fey was “sexist” and failed to delve into Palin’s substance. Speaking of Palin’s substance, today on the stump she loudly declared that she’d end the practice of Wall Street rewarding incompetent CEOs with “golden parachutes.” Palin made no note of Fiorina’s own $21 million-dollar ripcord,, […]
Jill Greenberg Puts Lipstick On John McCain’s Pig
[Photos by JILL GREENBERG] PHOTO DISTRICT NEWS: When The Atlantic called Jill Greenberg, a committed Democrat, to shoot a portrait of John McCain for its October cover, she rubbed her hands with glee. She delivered the image the magazine asked for—a shot that makes the Republican presidential nominee look heroic. Greenberg is well known for her highly retouched images of bears and crying babies. But she didn’t bother to do much retouching on her McCain images. “I left his eyes red and his skin looking bad,” she says. After getting that shot, Greenberg asked McCain to “please come over here” […]
HOT DOCUMENT: Letter From Obama
Jonathan — You’d be surprised how many people you know aren’t registered to vote. Registration deadlines are coming up soon, and we need every single vote we can get to win this election. Tell your friends, family, and neighbors to check out our new one-stop voter registration website. Just forward this message. VoteforChange.com makes it easier than ever to register. Instead of tracking down the right forms, all you need to do is answer a few basic questions and you’ll be ready to vote. You can also: Confirm your existing registration Apply to vote absentee Find your polling place […]
SNL: Cure For Dem Bedwetters?
OBAMA SAYS: Be Cool. UPDATE: WASHINGTON — With a deadly hurricane aimed at Texas, Barack Obama cancelled his appearence on Saturday Night Live this evening, spokesman Jen Psaki in a statement. “In the light of the unfolding crisis in Texas, Senator Obama has decided it is no longer appropriate to appear on Saturday Night Live tomorrow evening,” she said. WALL STREET JOURNAL: Barack Obama will make his second appearance on “Saturday Night Live” this weekend for the season premiere, hosted by Olympian Michael Phelps. “The details of the sketch are still being worked out,” an Obama campaign spokesperson told People […]
SAY IT OUT LOUD: John McCain Is Lying To America
Routinely. Without blinking. Without apology. Possibly without even knowing it sometimes. Just watch. Time to end the misguided moratorium on calling a liar a L-I-A-R. People only stop lying when you call them a liar. And no, ‘less than truthful’ ain’t cutting it. Video by TheRealMcCain.com: There’s no question John McCain is getting a free ride from the mainstream press. But with the power of YouTube and the blogosphere, we can provide an accurate portrayal of the so-called Maverick. We can put the brakes on his free ride! UPDATE: Thank you ladies of The View. We’ll take the Fourth Estate […]
LIPSTICK ON A WARPIG: Palin Tells ABC News’ Gibson That War With Russia Might Be Necessary
ABC NEWS: When Gibson said if under the NATO treaty, the United States would have to go to war if Russia again invaded Georgia, Palin responded: “Perhaps so. I mean, that is the agreement when you are a NATO ally, is if another country is attacked, you’re going to be expected to be called upon and help. “And we’ve got to keep an eye on Russia. For Russia to have exerted such pressure in terms of invading a smaller democratic country, unprovoked, is unacceptable,” she told Gibson. MORE OBVIOUS FOLLOW-UP QUESTION THAT WAS NEVER ASKED: Governor, you are aware that […]
CITIZEN MOM: Baby Mama Drama
CITY PAPER: After three days that contained enough absurdist theater to qualify for the Fringe Festival, the image I’m left with from the Republican National Convention is of the future Mrs. Levi Johnston — you know her better as Bristol Palin — standing onstage with her family and the McCains, being showered with the kind of wild-eyed applause usually reserved for that other rock star in the presidential race. There she was, all of 17, having sprouted a baby bump and a sketchy-looking fiancé since arriving in Minneapolis, and feeling the love from an arena — and a nation — […]
IF 9 WERE 11: How We Are Getting Played In Pakistan
NEW YORK TIMES: “When the Americans kill innocent people, we must take revenge,” he said. Tell me about that, I asked Namdar, and his aides again shook their heads. Finally Namdar changed his line. “Well, we can’t stop anyone from going across” into Afghanistan, he said. “I’m not saying we send them ourselves.” And with that, Namdar raised his hand, declining to offer any more details. By many accounts — on the streets, among Western analysts, even according to his own deputies — Namdar was regularly training and dispatching young men to fight and blow themselves up in Afghanistan. An […]
WORTH REPEATING: Bonfire Of The Inanities
ADAM MCKAY ON THE HUFFINGTON POST: Something is not right. We have a terrific candidate and a terrific VP candidate. We’re coming off the worst eight years in our country’s history. Six of those eight years the Congress, White House and even the Supreme Court were controlled by the Republicans and the last two years the R’s have filibustered like tantrum throwing 4-year-olds, yet we’re going to elect a Republican who voted with that leadership 90% of the time and a former sportscaster who wants to teach Adam and Eve as science? That’s not odd as a difference of opinion, […]
WASILLA WITCH TRIALS: Sarah Palin Never Actually Banned A Book, But It’s Not Like She Didn’t Try
ANCHORAGE DAILY NEWS: WASILLA — Back in 1996, when she first became mayor, Sarah Palin asked the city librarian if she would be all right with censoring library books should she be asked to do so. According to news coverage at the time, the librarian said she would definitely not be all right with it. A few months later, the librarian, Mary Ellen Emmons, got a letter from Palin telling her she was going to be fired. The censorship issue was not mentioned as a reason for the firing. The letter just said the new mayor felt Emmons didn’t fully […]
GAMBLOR: From Bad To Worse
INQUIRER: Foxwoods Casino has agreed to work with state and city leaders to move its long-delayed slots parlor planned for the South Philadelphia waterfront to the Gallery at Market East, The Inquirer has learned. Two sources familiar with the agreement, struck between Foxwoods and Gov. Rendell and Mayor Nutter this week, said the plan was to revive a vision for a downtown casino built over the Gallery. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity before Rendell and Nutter were scheduled to announce the plan at a 1 p.m. news conference today at City Hall. Although the Gallery was once […]