Friday is Debate Time!

Hello, and welcome! Today's blog is especially reserved for Economics and Politics. Science, technology, and the environment will have to wait til next week! Be sure to follow the main headlines over at Pacified Citizen


|politics|

It's on! McCain to attend debate. (sfgate.com)

McCain Wins Debate [That Hasn't Taken Place Yet...] (voices.washingtonpost.com)

Debate Still in Limbo as Democrats Blame McCain For Interrupting Process (washingtonpost.com)

Obama to McCain: "We're only talking about 90 minutes, here." (msnbc.msn.com)

"I didn't know I was going to be the referee for an internal GOP ideological civil war," Frank, D-Mass., said on CBS's "The Early Show." (talkingpointsmemo.com)

NPR: Debate-cancelling John McCain "hardly said a word" at bailout meeting! (Click "Listen") (npr.org)

John McCain last night was accused of sabotaging the Wall Street bail-out with theatrics that reduced America's credit crisis to a showcase for his presidential leadership capabilities (guardian.co.uk)

McCain Campaign: "Palin Clueless", "Debate Prep Disasterous" (dailykos.com)

Huckabee: McCain made a "huge mistake" by even discussing canceling the presidential debate (arkansasbusiness.com)

Liar, liar, LIAR! McCain’s Still Lying About Rick Davis And His Lobbyist Activities (crooksandliars.com)

Watch Sarah Palin explain to Katie Couric how Alaska's proximity to Russia is relevant national security experience. This is beyond embarrassing. (huffingtonpost.com)

Palin caught in $25,000 gifting scandal. She accepted over 25k in gifts in just 20 months as Governor from lobbyists and CEOs. (washingtonpost.com)

Palin to return donations from tainted politicians. Yeah. *Now* she'll give them back. Kids caught hand-in-cookie-jar are always contrite. (mlive.com)

Sarah Palin owes voters an explanation about charging rape victims for rape kits (americablog.com)

WTF: Remember when Bush could have insured millions of POOR AMERICAN CHILDREN for $35 Billion and vetoed the bill? But he RACES to give $700 BILLION TO BANKS. (nytimes.com)

CBS News Executives "Aggravated" By Letterman's Use Of Internal News Feed: Yeah! Arrogant bastard. How dare he expose McCain's hypocrisy! (huffingtonpost.com)

Which Candidate Is Ready To Lead? ... During the Bailout Meeting, Obama said it was "time to hear from McCain". All McCain said was, "I support the principles that House Republicans are fighting for." (biz.yahoo.com)

Jon Stewart completely destroys bush - compares Iraq war speech and bailout speech side-by-side (thedailyshow.com)

Gallup Daily: Race Back to a Tie at 46% Each (gallup.com)

|economics|

WaMu becomes biggest bank to fail in US history (huffingtonpost.com)

JPMorgan to buy WaMu - and the market continues to fix itself (money.cnn.com)

The Banking Industry is the biggest contributor to all politicians. That is why they support the Bailout scam. Listen to Economists, not greedy Politicians! (wwsd.biz)

CBS: McCain offered last-minute new proposal with fewer regulations and more corporate tax cuts (americablog.com)

French banks were hit a lot less hard than those in many other countries: "generally in France you spend what you have and not more," (news.bbc.co.uk)

Welcome back to perfect credit and 20% down for a house. Houses are for the wealthy only. (money.cnn.com)

France's top diplomat said Thursday that many European nations have decided to wait out the Bush administration (iht.com)

Smoking Gun: Clinton is Responsible (query.nytimes.com)

Very good video explaining how debt is created, and how it powers the US economy. Disturbing, yet informative. (video.google.com)

Thursday is seriously Sarah?

Well, Well, Well. Three holes in the ground.


|politics|

Obama Will Make Debate A Townhall If McCain Doesn't Show (huffingtonpost.com)

McCain's debate ploy--A move so unserious, contemptible and cynical that it's hard to imagine how they even thought of it (guardian.co.uk)

This is why McCain canceled the debates. Watch Sarah Palin on CBS tonight. Utter disaster. (americablog.com)

Couric Calls Out Palin Who Can't Offer of a Single Example Of McCain Attempting to Reform Wall Street (cbsnews.com)

Palin, the Muse of the Coming Police State (huffingtonpost.com)

If McCain doesn't vote for the Bush admin's $700 billion economic bailout, the plan won't pass (blogs.abcnews.com)

Congresswoman Maxine Waters: "It is an ominous coincidence that the price tag of the war in Iraq is nearly the same as the $700 billion price tag of the bailout..." (afterdowningstreet.org)

The time has come for a final report on the 43rd president of the US -- the man who set out to reinforce unbridled American power has weakened it in all three essential dimensions (guardian.co.uk)

A Frightened President Tries to Scare American Public on Bailout (alternet.org)

Pictures: Lego Block Prison Cells Readied In Utah -- Debate rages over blocks that can be snapped together to build prisons anywhere, at any time (infowars.net)

The anatomy of a smear campaign (boston.com)

Massachusetts proposal to decriminalize marijuana, stirs debate (boston.com)


|world news|

Thousands of people have been fleeing renewed fighting between African Union peacekeepers and Islamist insurgents in Mogadishu. (news.bbc.co.uk)

Russia to loan Chavez $US 1 billion to buy arms (russiatoday.com)

After a 28-yr binge of drunken optimism and blind nationalism Americans are waking up with a painful hangover, facing a grim “morning in America”... (consortiumnews.com)

Germany: "US will lose its superpower status in the world financial system" (americablog.com)

|economics|

Economist: Fed Acted Like a Liquidity Drug Dealer (cnbc.com)

How Relevant: "The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public's money." - Alexis de Tocqueville (quotedb.com)

US govt. on the unprecedented $700bn bailout: "It's not based on any particular data point," a Treasury spokeswoman told Forbes.com Tuesday. "We just wanted to choose a really large number." (forbes.com)

10 Ways to Bail Out Wall Street (and Main Street) Without Soaking Taxpayers in Debt (alternet.org)

Last year 7 firms in Wall street got $33.2 billion bonus. 4 of them are out of business. (washingtonpost.com)

Although Morgan Stanley is now a bank holding company, it is not yet subject to any of the activities restrictions that apply to bank holding companies (including commodities) (guardian.co.uk)

Taxpayers should wake up their politicians and ask them to tell Wall Street: "We want the same deal Warren Buffett got." (thenation.com)

China banks told to halt lending to US banks (reuters.com)

Financial crisis: Does the US face a full-scale run on its currency? (blogs.telegraph.co.uk)

|environment|

The Approaching World Oil Supply Crisis - "This is the first time a top executive of a major oil company has stated a maximum world oil-production level this low." (miller-mccune.com)

An Arctic Sea "Foaming" with Methane: What Now? (worldchanging.com)

Windmills in the Sky Can Generate Up to 250 Times the Energy That They Generate on the Ground (infoniac.com)

Solar stocks jump after Senate backs tax credits (reuters.com)

Virginia's first algae farm an experiment in biofuel (hamptonroads.com)

Ocean Buoys to Provide 10% of US Energy Requirements (cleantechnica.com)

|science|

From 12 years onward you learn differently - study (sciencecodex.com)

Artificial Trees to Produce Alternative Energy (fromshittosweetie.blogspot.com)

Astronomers have discovered a bizarre celestial object that emitted 40 visible-light flashes before disappearing again (eso.org)

Where to get $70 billion? One word, son: "asteroids" (news.bbc.co.uk)

Bionics: Improved Vision Implants Rejuvenate Damaged Retinas Like Digicam Sensors For the Eye (gizmodo.com)

China Launches First Space Walk Mission (news.nationalgeographic.com)

|fun/geek|

5 Ways To Fall Asleep Quicker (dumblittleman.com)

What is the Monkeysphere? (cracked.com)

Wednesday is a cavity

Hello, and welcome- I have a giant gaping hole in my tooth. Fun times!!


|politics|

No Candidate With More Than 50% Support in Sept. Has Lost Presidential Race Since '48. Latest ABC News/Washington Post poll: *Obama 52%* ... McCain 43% (abcnews.go.com)

We are more than halfway towards Karl Rove's America, isolated by embarrassingly inept and corrupt leaders... telling bigger and more transparent untruths while daring the press to cover them as lies. (huffingtonpost.com)

Watch the Corporate Media Flatten, Fragment, Filter and Frame the Obama-McCain Debate...showing sound-bites and clips out of context...will be masticated and mauled (huffingtonpost.com)

Conspiracy theories aside, I really think Osama Bin Laden has won. USA is falling apart along with it's economy. Just as Osama told you in 2004 (edition.cnn.com)

This is a terrible, terrible story for McCain, and yes, the biggest political story of the general-election campaign so far. (guardian.co.uk)

CNN's Campbell Brown on Palin: "Let her have a real news conference wth real questions ... Sarah Palin has just as much a right to be a real candidate as the men do. So let her act like one." (ourrepublicblog.com)

Votes are being stolen, now, by hundreds of thousands--and the Democrats aren't doing anything about it (opednews.com)

Emergency? White House admits to planning bailout for MONTHS. Updated. (dailykos.com)

Study: Liberals fear emptiness; conservatives fear chaos (scienceblog.com)



|world news|

The wreckage of a suspected US spy plane has been found near the Afghan border by the Pakistani army, but it has denied claims it was shot down (news.bbc.co.uk)

N Korea nuclear seals 'removed' (news.bbc.co.uk)

Global corruption index: Somalia most, Denmark least corrupt country (transparency.org)

Putin Gives Up on Bush: Russia is intent on mending ties with the U.S. once President George W. Bush leaves the office on Jan. 20 (bloomberg.com)

The end of the Mediterranean diet: 'If we continue like this, we’re going to become like Americans, and no one wants that.' (nytimes.com)

|economics|

Freddie Mac paid McCain aide's firm (ap.google.com)

Banking crisis: Warren Buffett sees US bailout as a golden opportunity (guardian.co.uk)

FBI Launches Investigation into Lehman Brothers, and other Crunch-hit Firms (money.co.uk)

Lehman Salaries in: The Downfall of the Investment Banking Model (econompicdata.blogspot.com)

The Shadow Banking System is Unravelling (ft.com)

The Idiocy of Wall Street: Applauding Its Own Demise (mises.org)

When Paulson was the CEO of Goldman Sachs, the average pay of its 22,425 staff was $521,000 (americablog.com)

|environment|

World's First Wave Power Plant Opens In Europe (dailytech.com)

Polar bears resort to cannibalism as Arctic ice shrinks (cnn.com)

Al Gore urges civil disobedience to stop coal plants (reuters.com)

If you drink 2 cups of coffee a day, there are 18 coffee trees out there solely for you (treehugger.com)

Top 5 Green Technologies Still Missing from the USA (ecoworldly.com)

190 Million Tires Thrown Away Each Year: Where’s The Rubberized Asphalt Concrete (RAC)? (ridelust.com)

|science|

The patent system is stifling advances in science (news.bbc.co.uk)

The LHC will be shut off until spring 2009 while engineers probe a magnet failure. (news.bbc.co.uk)

45 million year-old yeast trapped in amber now produces BEER. (msnbc.msn.com)

China will build the highly controversial Emdrive engine by the end of this year, success would revolutionize space and earth based transportation (nextbigfuture.com)

Mysterious New 'Dark Flow' Discovered in Space (space.com)

Want your kids to understand particle physics better than you? (particlezoo.net)

US astronomers discover inter-planetary collision 300 light-years away (theage.com.au)

US Homeland Security FAST Becoming Thought Police (markstechnologynews.com)

|fun/geek|

This is a McDonalds Hamburger from 1996 (bestwellnessconsultant.com)

Man decorates his entire basement with one $10 sharpie (w 360 degree photo) (kentucky.com)

Top 10 things that are surprisingly good for you (listverse.com)

The Ultimate Library with the Artifacts of Geek History (wired.com)

10 Books that will Substitute A Computer Science Degree (techoozie.com)

10 of the Worst Skateboard Crashes Caught on Tape (site.goskateorgohome.com)

Tuesday will remain a Pacified Citizen

Hello, and welcome. I have been offered a position at Pacified Citizen, so please direct your interest over that way! Together we will work to inform you of what television does not.


|politics|

Lying Works: Obama Would Increase Taxes on Just 1% of People, But 53% Think This Includes Them (dmiessler.com)

McCain has strong ties to corporate lobbyists at center of bailout (alternet.org)

Conservative columnist George Will: "Under the pressure of the financial crisis, one presidential candidate is behaving like a flustered rookie playing in a league too high. It is not Barack Obama." (realclearpolitics.com)

THIS is impressive! Obama spells out the most substantive, common sense, exceptionally intelligent ideas I've EVER heard regarding government, that he plans to execute as President (polfeeds.com)

Save your breath~ There's No Arguing With Conservatives ... No, Seriously, Scientific Studies Prove It........ (huffingtonpost.com)

Obama Campaign Reveals Science Advisors (blog.wired.com)

Obama just released a new ad which will be begin airing heavily in battleground states. Just him, talking for a full 2 minutes, about his economic plan. (politico.com)


|world news|

Bush, Ahmadinejad To Speak At UN (cbs2.com)

Russian warships have set off for Venezuela for joint exercises unprecedented since the Cold War. (news.bbc.co.uk)

The Sunday Times has revealed that an Israeli factory beneath the Negev desert is manufacturing thermo-nuclear weapons for atomic bombs. (presstv.ir)

Satellite images show ethnic cleansing in Iraq (reuters.com)

Russia has successfully fired a new intercontinental ballistic missile. The Bulava missile has a range of 10,000 kilometers and can carry six individually targeted nuclear warheads. (yourdefencenews.com)

|economics|

Lehman execs to share $2.5 billion bonus (business.timesonline.co.uk)

Foreign Banks in the United States will be covered by the bailout fund / Lobbyists urge speed on bailout / Is anyone paying attention to this? (msnbc.msn.com)

Elliot Spitzer. Remember him? You should: he was canned for warning us about what is happening right now. (discuss.epluribusmedia.net)

The Origins of Credit Cards, Checks, Coins and Bills (wwwc.mentalfloss.com)

Stopping a Financial Crisis, the Swedish Way (nytimes.com)

What nobody's saying: The bailout will kill the U.S. dollar (afterdowningstreet.org)

Wall Streets troubles may soon be over. Government planning to transfer all bad & toxic debt from the bank's balance sheet over to the taxpayers. All reality TV broadcasts will proceed as normal (money.cnn.com)

Tab for Government Bail-Outs Rises to $900 Billion (cnbc.com)

JPMorgan Gave Lehman $138 Billion After Bankruptcy (bloomberg.com)

"Banks can no longer be under the illusion that they can make big, stupid financial bets and expect taxpayers to pick up the bill" (bbc.co.uk)

|environment|

Today the world marks a day when people start living in ecological debt, i.e. they have already used all the natural resources that Earth can provide in one year (infoniac.com)

Scientists have discovered a "chemical Equator" that divides the polluted air of the Northern Hemisphere from the largely uncontaminated atmosphere of the Southern Hemisphere (reuters.com)

White House Prevents EPA from Protecting America's Drinking Water (boston.com)

The Solar Cube: A Solar and Wind Powered Water Source for Remote Areas (cleantechnica.com)

Report: Birds in Decline Around the World (telegraph.co.uk)

Bill Gates Invests in Algae Fuel Company (thoughtsonglobalwarming.blogspot.com)

|science|

The Large Hadron Collider - A Layman's Explaination (vhata.net)

Wasps can remember each other according to new research. A level of social memory never seen before in insects (newscientist.com)

Ice Age geology revealed at Ground Zero; Trade Center dig uncovers pothole 20,000 years old and 40 feet deep (msnbc.msn.com)

Android: Google's Dream, Apple's Nightmare? (time.com)

NY Times Columnist calls CA Prop 2 - Farm Animal Cruelty Initiative "Most Important Election You've Never Heard Of" (nytimes.com)

Health facilities flush estimated 250M pounds of drugs a year, pumping contaminants into America's drinking water. (usatoday.com)

Incredibly well-researched paper on the devastating effects of low-fat diet and sunlight avoidance in childhood development in America. Why haven't more people put this together? (people.csail.mit.edu)

|fun/geek|

9 Mental Math Tricks (oddline.blogspot.com)

Coolest Computer Mice on the Market Today (ergoware.com)

Faster, Smaller, Cheaper: 50 Years of Integrated Circuits (wired.com)

GOOGLE planning 'data barges' at sea, away from national laws and taxes (technology.timesonline.co.uk)

What women don't get about men (independent.co.uk)

280,951 Post-its Create Spectacular Army of Slinkies (gizmodo.com)