Excellent photo coverage of the Democratic party Denver convention protests at the Denver Post

(Many of the officers were probably hired on grants authored by Biden himself)

Are the Republicans a National Party or Fringe Coalition?

There have been some whispers and rumors of the 'death of the Republican party' and this almost certainly has something to do with the terrible reception of the American public with Bush's policies and the party he has come to represent.  If Bush has any legacy to be proud of, its that he's still a little bit more popular than the historically unpopular congress.

At the heart of the Republican party crisis is a slightly more nuanced issue of "fringe" coalitions within the party itself.  Traditionally, the Reagan coalition included a mixture of three groups primarily united for the sake of countering the Democratic party.  'He doesn't match my ideals, but he's better than so-and-so Democrat'

House Republican leader Representative John Boehner recently announced that "There will be no effort to try to nationalize the elections" - hinting that the Republican party has no unified platform it can stand behind other than "not being Democrats."

Are you upset about speculators and their effect on prices?  Have you considered if you yourself are one of these "evil" speculators wreaking havoc on the financial markets?

Imagine my surprise when I woke up to see Dow futures up, the dollar up, and oil prices marginally down. 

What is the great news that sparked such a potential bull rally?  The same exact news that I expected to tank equity values:  increase government intervention to remove risk for financial sector investors and the derivative assets; replacing it with inflation and taking it out of the consumer. 

Tomorrow is going to be an interesting day in the financial markets.  It might just be a day that goes down in the economic history books.

The big story?  Freddie and Fannie of course, the cornerstone for the leaning tower of derivatives we call an economy.   The $5 trillion (yes, trillion) in mortgages accounts for a huge chunk of the $110 trillion derivatives market that was built up using mortgage debt as collateral. 

If Congressional comments about Indymac caused depositors to "run" for the money, then today's late-Sunday Treasury plan should be like a drop-kick to the entire financial system.  Not just the banks, but the investment houses, mutual funds, money markets.  In the best case scenario, the dollar might be the hardest hit casualty.  When that's the best case, I won't even go through the depression necessary to imagine what might really happen.

Obviously this is going to be the big news story of the day, so hopefully my alarm clock gets me up early enough to catch the close of overseas markets.  I'll be digging deep for the underground financial news in the never-ending quest to find truth in a market of lies. 

The following entry is a letter I've written to my state's senator.  I don't even expect a form reply anymore.

If you want to speak up on HR 6304 (FISA) or if you want to complain about the recent Congressional attempts to nationalize the oil industry or cut America off from global commodities markets, please feel free to use any or all of this letter in your correspondence with your own state's Senators.  

Its a sad day for me that George Carlin's cynical political wisdom is best placed under the history heading. 

If you're offended by.. anything.. you should definitely watch these so you can be really really offended for a few minutes. 

Saving the Planet:

Who Owns you Americans? 

Voting:

If you don't like your politicians, who can you blame but yourself?  Then again, what did you really expect in the first place? 

Obviously, none of this politics bullshit can come close to religion.

Religion is Bullshit:

Since the Bear Stearns bailout and miniature banking panic, we've reported that Lehman Brothers is the subject of rumor, speculation, and substantial losses in shareholder equity. 

Today,  Lehman Brothers has announced a larger than expected loss for the second quarter and company is right back in the news.  As a highly leveraged investment house, new investors and old stockholders are getting sick of the prospect of increased share dilution through the proposed capital acquisition.

All "new money" dollars, bills, and promissory notes are printed on receipt paper in faded ink unless noted