In the process of reading The Other 90% by Ken Cooper I came across a vignette about Art Tatum, a man that overcame seemingly insurmountable physical challenges and triumphed as one of the world’s foremost jazz pianists.

Born in Ohio in 1909, Tatum suffered from blindness in one eye; partial in the other.

Blessed with an extraordinary ear for music and largely self-taught, Tatum layed his hands on a player piano one day and while it played his fingers grasped the movement of the keys. He learned to play the piano and repetition lead to mastery. This despite his blissful ignorance of the fact that player pianos at the time played as though two pianists and four hands were at the keyboard.

When you listen to his work, the range, tempo and touch he exhibits leaves you unable to imagine one man’s fingers dancing with such pace and perfection. Other artists of the 1930’s called his performances “impossible.”

Ironically…

“Art Tatum’s incredibly fast playing style requires a level of precision beyond the capabilities of conventional player piano systems,” said John Q. Walker, founder of Zenph Studios

In fact, watching a player piano perform probably his most representative work “Tiger Rag,” reveals an amazingly complex range of keystrokes and leaves one wondering how any one artist could play the song.

Videos of his performances, rare as they are, reveal an exceedingly calm but rapid command of the keys. I don’t know much about jazz, so I poked around the web, looking for tidbits on this remarkable artist and was inspired by his ability to overcome, to produce such a large volume of work and to inspire other artists.

Sources:

Wikipedia

Duke University

NPR

Barack Obama’s explanation of his tax plans if elected is instrumental in illustrating the thin line between lying and nondisclosure. His plan to raise taxes on those that employ a great many of his constituents is a failure to realize the benefit of economic lessons learned. It is also proof of his gross economic illiteracy.

His “Tax Cuts for 95% of Americans” ploy, given the fact that 40% of Americans don’t pay taxes defies basic mathematics. The idea that those above $250K represent the Nation’s upper crust defies the imagination.

Being subject to lower taxes will not be relevant to middle-class American families if their breadwinners lose their jobs. Half of America’s workforce draws a paycheck from small business owners. Further burdening these businesses, especially in challenging times like these, will serve only to harm those that Obama professes to be the messiah they’ve been waiting for. In fact, they will suffer the most.

Make no mistake. We are in a recession.

We need small businesses to do what they have done in most every previous recession. Grow. Hire. Invest. Small business has lead us out of tough times in the past, and if given the chance, will do so this time as well. Unfortunately, in the face of this recession, the American voter, in a twisted manipulation of cause and effect, has been lured into thinking that a Democrat is the answer. They will be dead wrong.

It is a sad commentary that the only upside to the current political tide for business owners and investors, and those that benefit from their success, is that an Obama Administration will be another Carter administration. Maybe worse. In this scenario, voters will awaken to the stark postmortem reality that a vote for a true conservative is a vote for economic prosperity.

In all fairness, Republicans deserve this predicament even if it is the American people that will suffer the most. Opportunities for true reform and fiscal restraint were squandered. President Bush has been one of the most fiscally liberal Presidents in modern times; and he’s a Republican.

The fact remains however, that raising taxes and spending any time in the next eight years, given the economic turmoil that we have just begun to suffer, is the polar opposite of what should be prescribed.

Our nation is amidst a time of unprecedented vulnerability. To think that a liberal majority can somehow resist the temptation to push their socialist agenda, even given the catastrophic consequences it will have for our nation, is a pipe dream.

We are on the precipice of total economic collapse as our system unwinds from a forty year super-cycle of growing consumer and national debt brought on by liberal economic policy and the inability of conservatives to exhibit the leadership to countermand its effects. Barack Obama has been consistently aligned with those that planted the seeds of this crisis while John McCain has been one of only a few voices of caution when leading indicators appeared on the horizon.

Do we face another Great Depression? It’s hard to say with certainty. Given our precarious economic status and the near certainty that liberals will gain unfettered control of fiscal policy, there is cause for concern. Great concern.

In the last Great Depression, fiscal policy was exactly wrong, albeit in hindsight. As the economy weakened, the Fed actually increased rates. The President resisted even short-term deficit spending. Unemployment was higher than it is now.

In this case, the Fed has little more it can do. Deficit spending has been the norm for years. We have a ten trillion dollar national debt; closer to thirty if you count future obligations. Interest rates are already close to the bottom.

The only lever left is to lower taxes and allow the free enterprise system to rescue us via the creation of new jobs and wage growth, which will drive consumerism and investment. Even that takes time. Time we may not have. Ronald Regan’s efforts took more than a year to take effect.

Consider this: lowering taxes and incentives to allow the free enterprise system to pull us out of the grasp of recession; does this sound likely given the trend in the affiliation of our elected officials?

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

The Dow Sends a Message to Obama, Carter, Clinton, Dodd, Raines, Frank and the rest of our nation’s liberal social engineering geniuses:

(It’s a Contest!)

Mrs. Roosh and I visited Manhattan last week for a quick getaway and this is my favorite photo.

How many Nationally Known Brand Names and/or Logos Appear in this photo?

If you are the closest winner Mrs. Roosh will buy you a cocktail at the AM1280 The Patriot Presidential Debate Party, Oct. 15th at Trocadero. Click the photo for the larger version required to find them all.

Hint: Many appear multiple times, each appearance counts; reflections count as well.

Congrats to BillC: I’m up to 19 individually, at least 34 including duplicates and reflections.

Click on the Pic for the Large Version of the Key…Click “Read the rest of this entry…” for the list.

(more…)

Financial system events of late provide only a glimpse of the worldwide economic collapse that will be brought on by a capitulation of global equity markets if Barack Obama realizes a successful Presidential bid and unleashes the full faith and credit of the Socialist Party. In anticipation, American automotive enthusiasts are encouraged to recalibrate their choice of daily conveyance.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the Citroen 2CV.

The 2CV celebrates its 60th birthday during the Paris Motor Show, on 7 October 2008. To celebrate the event, Hermes has designed a made-to-measure outfit that highlights the vehicle’s ever-friendly and generous forms.

The 1989 2CV 6 Spécial, repainted in brown, gains a natural leather trim on the door facings, interior rearview mirror, gear knob, steering wheel and driver’s sun visor. For an even more elegant finish, the two seats are upholstered in Hermès grey-beige cotton canvas and natural leather. As a finishing touch, the bonnet and interior trim at the rear of the vehicle also feature Hermès cotton canvas.

Like the Automobile that marked the other end of America’s industrial and economic world dominance, Henry Ford’s Model T, the 2CV is available in any color you like. As long as, in this case, it is brown.

Exhilarating is one word that one might imagine could possibly come to mind considering the power under the bonnet. The little engine that could, a SOHC 602cc Twin, breathes easy through a twin-choke carburetor and churns out an adequate 29 horsepower at 6,750 rpm. The 2CV’s 5.3 Gallon gas tank allows for a full week’s ration!

Need to put on the binders? Sturdy drum brakes in the rear, and in a generous government factory upgrade since 1981, you’ll enjoy disc brakes in the front.

A comfortable but durable rear bench will allow for catnaps between your day job, wherewith you feed your children and pay the rent on your government-owned town home and your night job wherewith you pay your United Nations Income Tax, Grocery Loans and Global Warming Assessment.

Savor the nostalgia of a vehicle introduced to the world in 1948; your very own piece of history! Enroll now for subsidized 96-month financing offers and neighborhood Carshare Agreements via government lottery selection.

Citroen. The Car The People have been Waiting For^®

Camille Paglia, responding as it were to a letter from St. Louis Park, discounts McCain’s ability to hold executive office in favor of Obama’s substantially higher level of relevant experience.

What is her assessment based on?

Like a broken record…he’s run an inspiring campaign. He’s shrewd. He looks good; smells good. The egg justifies the chicken.

Yes, McCain is profoundly patriotic, as were his military forebears. Patriotism, rather than race, may indeed prove to be the determining factor in this election. But I simply don’t see that McCain has the basic managerial ability to run the complex Washington bureaucracy. Obama lacks executive experience too, but he has shown a shrewd ability to captain a national campaign. And Obama’s sober, deliberative temperament seems to me genuinely presidential. In contrast, McCain’s bizarre grandstanding during the Wall Street crisis (such as his embarrassingly unprofessional call for cancellation of the first debate) suggested that he lacks the steadiness of behavior and expression that we have a right to expect in a president.

Then she labels McCain’s decision to suspend his campaign and call to postpone the first debate, in a time of financial crisis and investor panic, as grandstanding; a ridiculous charge given the events as they occurred. The fact that we didn’t have a greater meltdown is not cause for criticism for what was clearly an executive decision to err on the side of precaution.

I know this is editorial bullsh*t but its bullsh*t nonetheless and Obama’s brain dead followers are eating it up like cattle being fed on the way to the rendering plant.

The markets appear poised to take a breather today as the hysteria subsides (update: ok, maybe not) if only for a moment. The bailout has passed but has not been implemented; it’s effect limited to the psychological benefit to those who value short-term fixes for long-term issues.

In her post-debate analysis of the Presidential debate, Nina Easton of Fortune magazine dramatically called the end of the conservative movement.

“We’re witnessing tonight something quite profound and that was the sinking ship of free-market Republicans keel over, groan, and fall to the bottom of the sea. John McCain, without much notice, proposed a $300 billion dollar plan to nationalize home mortgages…”

Her dramatic punditry was triggered by John McCain’s proposed plan to spend $300 Billion of the bailout kitty on buying down under-water mortgages. I’m not sure if McCain planned this or if it came to him during the debate, but let’s be clear on a couple things today.

First of all, if this action is required to rescue our financial system and preserve what’s left of our economy, let’s not confuse the medicine with the disease. We face unprecedented (at least in modern times) financial challenges that require the consideration of “all of the above”.

If some of these bailout dollars are to be used to acquire appreciating assets, taxpayers can cross their fingers and at least retain some hope of being paid back to some extent, and God willing, realize a profit.

But don’t hold your breath.

To that end, Treasury Secretary Paulson announced this morning that some of the dollars earmarked for the economic rescue plan may be invested in some of the more troubled banking institutions.

Paulson told reporters in Washington yesterday that legislation Congress passed last week to rescue financial institutions gave him broad authority that he intends to use, beyond just buying mortgage-related assets on banks’ balance sheets. He indicated that an option available may be boosting companies’ capital with cash infusions.

“It is the policy of the federal government to use all resources at its disposal to make our financial system stronger,” Paulson said. “We will use all of the tools we’ve been given to maximum effectiveness, including strengthening the capitalization of financial institutions of every size.”

This “strengthening” may include purchasing troubled assets these institutions in exchange for equity in the institution. As such, I wouldn’t characterize this as a pure play socialistic intervention as some pundits have of late.

On the other hand, lets not lose sight of the fact that American taxpayers have unwillingly found themselves party to a violation of epic proportions.

Back to the medicine and the disease: let us not at the same time forget who caused this crisis.

Once upon a time, Liberals in Washington decided that their constituents held a the right (not the opportunity) to home ownership, without regard to their economic relevance to the economy. This pressure was manifested in directives and incentives for their buddies at Frannie Make to acquire mortgages that would otherwise not be considered good long-term investments. All this while the liberals nudged and winked “Don’t worry, we’ll bail you out if this all goes awry.”

(A self fulfilling prophecy if ever there was one)

This created a vacuum that was willfully and eagerly filled by the likes of WAMU and Countrywide who flooded the market with cheap mortgages, sold them to anyone that could fog a mirror, knowing that Frannie Make would take them off of their hands.

Meanwhile, these mortgages were packaged as safe investments and sold to companies like AIG.

In turn, artificial demand for homes elevated their value and created an enormous drive to buy land and build homes to satisfy the voracious appetite for them. These homes, once occupied, continued to artificially appreciate, creating a refinancing craze and providing capital via increasing debt for the purchase of consumer goods including but not limited to the items to fill these homes.

(The Bubble)

Once the inevitable failure of many homeowners to continue servicing this ill-gotten debt ensued, the domino effect followed close behind. So much of our economy hinged on the ability of homeowners to borrow against their homes – or even the psychological effect of the knowledge that they could – that when it vanished, consumerism went with it.

Institutions found themselves in receipt of illiquid assets as the market for them was flooded.

(Pop! )

Clearly it was not free-market “Republican” principles that caused this crisis, and unfortunately, due to the magnitude, it won’t be solved by free-market principles alone. The American people have little appetite for long-term solutions that require short-term pain. Furthermore, I bristle at the fact that domain of free-market and free-enterprise principles have been relegated solely to the Republicans – I’ve always thought of them as fundamental American values.

Liberals have brainwashed Americans for years into thinking that they need government to solve their problems, to take the sting out of life, to shave the peaks to fill in the valleys in the interest of fairness.

Barack Obama is the most liberal Senator in America. He personifies all that is wrong with American fiscal policy. His rhetoric belies his record, his history, his choice of advisers and associates and his claimed intent to lower taxes. His actions speak so loud, his words we should be smart enough to discount. His brainwashed minions follow him and don’t even know why, nor do they realize the damage he and his liberal brethren could do to our economy.

It was the very government meddling that Obama espouses, some years ago, perpetuated by unchecked greed and political power, and despite warnings of John McCain and others, that created a crisis of such proportion that only government intervention could solve it. We can only hope that this truth is not lost on the American people as they consider solutions for our country’s most pressing issues.

Please vote for me (every day)

As my son and I traversed the new 35W Bridge a couple weeks ago, we noticed wavy concrete sculptures marking the boundaries of the span.

I’m not an art critic but I know it when I see it and this aint it. The objects sit awkwardly on the center divider. While their fabrication in concrete lends to the aura of fortitude that is reassuring while crossing the mighty Miss on a bridge where one once ceased, the lack of contrast is uninspiring. The objects look to have been tacked on as an afterthought.

As it turns out, their purpose may be less about pleasing the eye and more about saving us from less than optimally oxidized particles.

the new sculptures are made from a type of concrete that is photocatalytic, meaning they will be able to convert gases like carbon monoxide, nitrous oxides and sulfur dioxide to higher oxidized states, making them less damaging to the environment. Another benefit of the new concrete mixture is that it never looks old as it maintains a white oxidized color on its outer skin.

This is the same process used by a catalytic converter in automobiles.

The monuments were designed using the international cartographic symbol for water.

Many thanks for the definition of photocatalytic. I might otherwise have thought it described an object, once viewed, that induces discomfort in the right brain. I sit corrected.

John McCain has one more chance to assert himself and as it turns out he needs it.

Because it didn’t happen so much tonight.

John McCain favors the town hall format but the elements that differentiate that format didn’t manifest themselves tonight. Tom Brokaw didn’t allow it, much to the detriment of the process and the value of tonight’s debate.

As moderator, Tom Brokaw displayed a last gasp of vitality in denying Obama’s request at one point to rebut a rebuttal in which McCain took a shot at him. In the next session, Obama couldn’t resist and went there anyway. Thereafter, Brokaw seemed to lose his will to moderate at all.

Not so much so as to allow John McCain to pick up where Sarah Palin left off on the concerns of character and associations that many anticipated would be part of the fare tonight. The format left Obama unscathed here.

The result of all of the above was a restating of well worn talking points and serial question non-answering on the part of both candidates, and from my vantage point, more so on the part of Senator McCain.

John McCain may have taken off the gloves but he didn’t take enough swings and he didn’t land enough blows.

An opportunity missed for sure.

To his credit, McCain was effective at conveying to Americans the reality that the level of entitlements enjoyed currently can not continue.

At the same time, McCain missed the opportunity to truly drive home the idea that Obama’s ridiculous and implausible promise of net spending reductions, bipartisanship and reform fly in the face of his public record while McCain, using the same measure, can more credibly assert that he will actually be able to exhibit and foster fiscal discipline.

Ideology aside, McCain was nervous and a little goofy, settled in and gained confidence, then regressed. Obama seemed consistently confident and poised.

My barometer tonight was Mrs. Roosh, a devout conservative who is much more removed from the day to day blog fodder and media bombardment than I am. Her take on McCain’s performance? She was annoyed.

I think she, like many voters, just wanted some straight answers if not a clear change of momentum in McCain’s favor.

All in all making next Wednesday night’s debate an even more pivotal event.

I’m not enamored by the personal attacks that appear to represent the final chapter in the 2008 Presidential campaign. That is not to say I find them irrelevant.

Obama criticizes McCain for an attempt to distract the American people from the economic crisis that his his colleagues in Congress and his pals at Fannie and Freddie (one of which is now his advisor) caused, and that John McCain warned of, and then responds in kind with more of the same.

Also not a fan of tit for tat, but I am amused at the notion that Obama considers this:

The so-called Keating Five scandal involved McCain, who was in his first term in the Senate representing Arizona, and four Democratic senators, none of whom are still in office. They faced accusations of improperly intervening with federal regulators on behalf of Keating, an Arizona businessman and campaign contributor who was chairman of California-based Lincoln Savings and Loan Association.

On par with this:

Bill Ayers, a former member of the Weather Underground, which carried out a series of bombings to protest the Vietnam War in the 1970s.

Once again; This:

Unchecked Greed

With This:

Attempting to Kill People and Destroy Public Property with Explosives

Again, this:

A Banking Scandal

With this:  

Domestic Terrorism

Then again…

The Senate Ethics Committee in 1991 ultimately cleared McCain of wrongdoing, though it said he had “exercised poor judgment.”

As for Ayers…he’s unrepentant.

Joe Biden was on a Fantasy World Tour the other night and between he and the fetching Mrs. Palin, he is supposed to be the foreign affairs expert. Not so much apparently. Governor Palin let him get away with some whoppers, a missed opportunity for sure. But this morning she’s getting a little help from her friends.

Biden’s Fantasy World

…what are we to make of Mr. Biden’s fantastic debate voyage last week when he made factual claims that would have got Mrs. Palin mocked from New York to Los Angeles?

Mr. Biden asserted that “When we kicked — along with France, we kicked Hezbollah out of Lebanon, I said and Barack said, ‘Move NATO forces in there. Fill the vacuum, because if you don’t know — if you don’t, Hezbollah will control it.’ Now what’s happened? Hezbollah is a legitimate part of the government in the country immediately to the north of Israel.”

The U.S. never kicked Hezbollah out of Lebanon, and no one else has either. Perhaps Mr. Biden meant to say Syria, except that the U.S. also didn’t do that.

Then there’s the Senator’s astonishing claim that Mr. Obama “did not say he’d sit down with Ahmadinejad” without preconditions. Yet Mr. Biden himself criticized Mr. Obama on this point in 2007 at the National Press Club

Sarah Palin may not know as much about the world, but at least most of what she knows is true.

The conventional wisdom is that Senator Obama picked Joe Biden because he’s older, wiser, and serves to shore up Obama’s lack of foreign policy experience.

Turns out, Joes’s just older.

Nick Coleman is dazed and confused (I purchased that sentence from the Department of Redundancy Department).

Nick thinks Sarah Palin winked at him, and his “male” readers. It’s either an attempt at humor (stick to being a broken bat Nick, humor is above your pay grade) or a view into Nick’s psyche; certainly not Sarah Palin’s.

Sarah Palin winked at me during her debate with Joe Biden. She winked at the camera, and I think it was meant for me. There is a connection between us that goes back to that tear-gassy September night in St. Paul, when she gave her acceptance speech and I was up in the balcony, taking notes.

Sarah Palin’s wink was not a come-on, and most certainly not directed to Nick Coleman.

As if.

Now Nick, if you see Sarah lift her middle finger…

Sarah Palin’s was a wink of encouragement to all working Americans. It was a wink to the Democrats “We’ve got your number; you don’t have the answers.” It was a wink of confidence…and it was a wink to her father sitting in the audience during the debate.

I would make a good First Dude.

Silly Nick. A pandering liberal soon-to-be-unemployed columnist for a failing paper vs. a real man in The Deadliest Catch business, who races snow machines and lives off the land in the Alaskan frontier?

Nick, you couldn’t iron her shirt.

…and for your enjoyment, I give you Mariah Carey.

Oh, when you walk by every night
Talking sweet and looking fine
I get kinda hectic inside
Mmm, baby I’m so into you
Darling, if you only knew
All the things that flow through my mind

(But it’s just a) sweet, sweet fantasy, baby
When I close my eyes
You come and you take me
(On and on and on)
So deep in my daydreams
But it’s just a sweet, sweet fantasy, baby

Nick goes on in his column (blah blah blah) and I think he actually says some nice things about Sarah Palin and acknowledges the political clout of soccer moms (blah blah blah) but I lost interest.

Sarah Palin is in attack mode, revisiting the alleged Obama/Ayers connection today on the trail.

“We see America as the greatest force for good in this world,” Palin said at a fund-raising event in Colorado, adding, “Our opponent though, is someone who sees America, it seems, as being so imperfect that he’s palling around with terrorists who would target their own country.”

Almost in anticipation of this attack (the McCain campaign did announce just after the VP debates that attacks on Obama would accelerate in the near term) the New York Times noted yesterday:

A review of records of the schools project and interviews with a dozen people who know both men, suggest that Mr. Obama, 47, has played down his contacts with Mr. Ayers, 63. But the two men do not appear to have been close. Nor has Mr. Obama ever expressed sympathy for the radical views and actions of Mr. Ayers, whom he has called “somebody who engaged in detestable acts 40 years ago, when I was 8.”

UPDATE: The Times article in question was first released online under the title “Obama had met Ayers, but the two are not close.” That title was soon changed to, “Obama and the ’60’s Bomber: A Look Into Crossed Paths.”

John McCain and Sarah Palin have to fight for their life right now and certainly need to take their campaign to the next level, but I’m not sure digging up alleged associations with Obama’s Hyde Park neighbor Bill Ayers represents the path to victory.

The path needs to take their message to Middle Americans.

In light of our credit crisis, more needs to be said about John McCain’s unheeded warnings four years ago. More needs to be said about Sarah Palin’s willingness to take on her own party as Governor in the interest of her constituents.

More focus needs to be placed on the fact that the Obama/Biden ticket represents the top two most liberal Senators in America. That Barack Obama is so ideologically shallow he can’t put two sentences together without a teleprompter. That McCain has served his country with honor while Obama has simply pursued and executed a calculated political career. That his preponderance of “present” votes in the Senate is clearly a tactic to counter the fact that Senators almost never become President due to their public voting records.

John McCain needs to point out that Obama’s choice of Senator Joe Biden, one of the Senate’s most entrenched institutional liberals, represents the antithesis of “Change” for his party let alone for the Oval Office and Washington at large. That his failure to select Hillary Clinton as his Vice Presidential candidate represents a deficit in leadership that foretells the same if he were ever to become President.

The McCain campaign needs to highlight the fact that Sarah Palin’s executive experience, while not overwhelmingly substantial, still dwarf’s Obama’s measured by tenure, accomplishment, and political reform.

…and if you’re going to place Obama with unsavory characters, stick with those that can be proven. Tony Rezko, Al Sharpton and Reverend Wright, who married Barack and Michelle, come to mind.

Unaffiliated, undecided voters are going to decide this election and McCain/Palin needs to reach out to them, disturb their centrist sensibilities, and they need to do it now.

…excepting Alice

and well, excepting Katie, that is. Or actually anything that is. Well, the new place has wings, but it’s just not the same without Katie. Jusk ask Joe.

Biden’s Restaurant to Nowhere 

Towards the end of last night’s Joe Biden/Sarah Palin debate, Joe Biden said this: “All you have to do is to go down Union Street with me in Wilmington and go to Katie’s restaurant…”

She investigated a bit and realized Biden was referring to the long-closed Katie’s Italian restaurant, which is actually two blocks away from Union Street.

The establishment is now a Wings to Go.

House approves historic $700 billion financial bailout bill

Financial-Rescue Package Wins Final Approval With House Vote of 263 to 171

According to preliminary numbers, 172 Democrats voted in favor of the bill while 62 opposed it; and 91 Republicans voted for it and 108 voted against it.

Bush to quickly sign bailout bill

The Market reaction?

Let’s just say it’s not down. (1PM)

Factcheck.org

I was among hundreds in attendance of the AM1280 The Patriot debate event hosted and moderated by Mitch, Ed, John, and Chad. If you weren’t there last night, I would recommend you attend the Presidential debate event…there were still some empty seats…not a lot…but some. It was an optimal environment to view the debate and Sarah Palin gave cause more than once for the the crowd to go wild.

As for the debate, I haven’t surfed the mainstream media reactions of yet, nor did I listen to them last night. By design.

My take?

First a note on the Gwen Ifill controversy: Ifill kept her word. Her moderation was balanced and if anything, she leaned on Senator Biden a bit more than Governor Palin, at one point inflicting a glancing blow on Joe on a flip flop Palin had previously referred to, in an effort to encourage the candidates to actually answer the questions.

The quick and dirty: both candidates exceeded expectations.

Joe Biden was well-spoken, mostly polite and respectful, and for the most part resisted the urge to bloviate beyond his time slots. He was clearly coached by his handlers no less than the Governor. He was at times nervous, literally “hot under the collar”, at one point actually running his finger along the inside of his collar to relieve the pressure building in his neck. Was this a Richard Nixon moment? Probably not. If he were a Republican in this media environment? Front page stuff.

More notably, there were several instances where Senator Biden was “playing footsie” with someone in the audience, and not paying attention while Governor Palin spoke. The camera caught him snickering and fidgeting in a way that seemed to belittle Governor Palin while she wasn’t looking. At each instance, of which I think there were two or three, the spit screen that revealed his hijinks faded to Ifill or Palin alone as if the control room didn’t want to embarrass Biden. I will be interested to see if the media makes note of this in any way.

As for Governor Palin, she faltered a couple times that were almost unnoticeable. She was confident in her posture and discourse and as the debate went on found more than one opportunity to deliver Joe a smackdown for his assertions that were contrary to his to his voting record or his debates with Senator Obama. Palin took the high ground more than once, and more than Biden.

Palin was also able to express her disdain for the federal government and Wall Street in a way that effectively captured the nation’s collective disgust.

At one point during the detonation of these Barracuda Bombs, while the crowd went wild at Trocadero, Senator Biden involuntarily smiled wide and shrugged; clearly as if to acknowledge “You got me there, sweetheart. Good one.”

Despite the same old weathered and worn political script from Joe Biden and a pointed and refreshingly incoriggible Sarah Palin, both sides got what they were looking for last night and will no doubt claim victory. Neither Biden nor Palin collapsed or fell victim to their storied weaknesses. Biden was not able to trip Palin up while she was clearly able to do so for him. As a bonus, she exhibited a comfortable claim on foreign and domestic policy issues to the extent of the scope of the debate.

Sarah Palin takes the win by slightly more than a narrow margin because she was on the offensive and exhibited just the posture and verve that endeared conservatives to her when John McCain introduced her to the American political scene.

…and just the Sarah Palin that we need to hear more from in the next thirty or so days.

Barack Obama is buying his own satellite television channel. This is cause for

1) Elation – as this opens up a whole new category of bloggfodder, derision and political satire

2) Concern – What sort of propaganda can Obama have in store for his hypnotized minions, given his series of associations with anti-American far left radical thinkers and activists (some would say even terrorists)?

Bill O’Reilly (paraphrased from his radio show this morning): Why does Obama have to buy Channel 73? He already owns MSNBC.

Looking to the future…

Cable companies will offer one-channel plans.

Obama’s minions will walk the streets like zombies, wearing Obama logoed T-Shirts saying Change: to 73

Whoopee Cushion will leave “The View” and will have a new show on Obammy-73 called “The Pew” (not as in church – as in olfactory dissatisfaction).

Reverend Wright and Michelle Obama will host a perky morning show:

“Good Morning God Damned America”

Bill Ayers will host a new show about blowing up public property for fun and entertainment:

“Smash ‘n Grab”

Tony Rezko will host a home improvement show:

“Steal It, Fix It, Sell It, Prof-it”

The possibilities are endless…

“Iceberg? What Iceberg? We were just trying to see how fast she’d go.”

but Still in the Woods, to The House of Representatives we go…

The Senate’s revised bill sweetened the original package by tacking on a number of tax breaks and other perks in the hopes of swaying the House to reverse its original veto.

The add-ons include tax breaks for businesses, users of alternative energy and hurricane victims as well as relief from the alternative minimum tax.

Also, it would boost the limit on FDIC-insured bank deposits to $250,000 from $100,000 for one year.

Additionally, a bill boosting improved health insurance for mental health was wrapped into the package.

Say again? Was that Pelosi’s idea?

In all, the add-ons bring the potential package cost to over $800 billion, according to published reports.

What’s an extra $100 Billion?

The revised bailout received the support of both presidential candidates.

American taxpayers have swamped many representatives’ offices with e-mails and phone calls, with overwhelming majority urging them to vote down the bill.

…and they were listening last time. Brace yourself. This may not be over yet.

The producers of “Hell’s Kitchen” and “Trading Spaces” must have been getting nervous, and desperate as they worked their way down their list of potential talent for their upcoming new show on TruTV.

Then Jesse “The Hind” Ventura opted in. 

The former governor will host a new program for TruTV (formerly Court TV) in which he’ll travel the country, exploring modern-day conspiracies and getting input from believers and skeptics.

“I’ve been a mayor; I’ve been a governor. Now I get to be a detective and seek the truth,” Ventura said in a press statement.

“Until you hunted man, you haven’t hunted yet.”

“Huh?” Replied the show’s producers.

No word yet as to which Jesse Ventura will show up for filming; the bald but clean-cut former Guv or Kinky Friedman-sidekick with braided chin hair.

Another show not to watch.