European Friends Write: “Are You Americans Crazy?”
by Dr. Bernard Weiner, Atlantic Free Press, 12 October 2008

1. BEYOND THE “CRAZY” FACTOR

“Bush, with his policies and wars, has nearly wrecked the U.S. Constitution and economy and America’s moral standing abroad. We don’t understand why your John McCain, so closely associated with the Bush policies that brought these disasters upon your country and the world, should be nearly even in the polls with Obama. Have you guys gone crazy?”

No, still crazy (if not crazier) after all these years:
Man At Palin Rally Displays Monkey Doll Donning Obama Sticker
By Scott Conroy, CBS News’ “From the Road”, 11 October 2008

After Palin finished her remarks this morning, the man holding the stuffed monkey seemed to notice that a video camera was pointed at him, at which point he removed the Obama sticker from the doll’s head and crumpling it up in his hand. He then handed the doll to a young boy who was watching the rally from his father’s shoulders. The boy’s parents later told CBS News that they weren’t acquainted with the man who gave their son the stuffed monkey.

Watch CBS Videos Online

The Branchflower report
10 October 2008

Download the report here.

Finding Number One
For the reasons explained in section IV of this report, I find that Governor Sarah Palin abused her power by violating Alaska Statute 39.52.110(a) of the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act. Alaska Statute 39.52.110(a) provides

The legislature reaffirms that each public officer holds office as a public trust, and any effort to benefit a personal or financial interest through official action is a violation of that trust.

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As Credit Crisis Spreads, Global Approach Weighed
By Mark Lander and Edmund L. Andrews, New York Times, 9 October 2008

The British and American plans, though far from identical, have two common elements according to officials: injection of government money into banks in return for ownership stakes and guarantees of repayment for various types of loans.

Both remedies will be center stage on Saturday, when President Bush meets with finance ministers from the world’s richest countries at an unusual White House meeting to swap ideas.

Mr. Bush’s invitation to finance ministers from Britain, Italy, Germany, France, Canada and Japan came on a day of phone calls and letters between European leaders and with Washington.

Shouldn’t they scurry like cockroaches to China and beg forgiveness?

Alison Weir, AlisonWeir.org, 2 October 2008

Sadly, I don’t have time to keep up with blogs as much as I should (not surprisingly, since I almost never even post to my own), but I recently discovered that a prominent blogger named Philip Weiss (whose work I have sometimes read and found valuable) had written some odd things about an excellent documentary I assisted on a bit, Occupation 101. In his blog Weiss describes attending a showing of Occupation 101 at Yale, after which I had been invited to lead a discussion.

I’m extremely proud to be associated with Occupation 101. The two young filmmakers who created it have produced a breathtakingly powerful film. The story of how they made their film is sort of like a Hollywood movie, if Hollywood ever made movies where Arabs weren’t the villains. Sufyan and Abdallah Omeish, two brothers who had never made a documentary before and had basically no money, decided they were going to make a film about Palestine – and they’re not even Palestinian.

[Read the response | hat tip]

Institute for Public Accuracy
October 7, 2008

Over 5,000 U.S. physicians have signed an open letter calling on the candidates for president and Congress “to stand up for the health of the American people and implement a nonprofit, single-payer national health insurance system.”

Noting that the nation’s private-insurance-based model is failing by denying needed medical care to millions, wasting resources and driving up costs, the doctors say that a publicly financed system is “the sole hope for affordable, comprehensive coverage.”

“A single-payer health system could realize administrative savings of more than $300 billion annually — enough to cover the uninsured and to eliminate co-payments and deductibles for all Americans,” they write, adding that it would also slow cost increases.

[Read More]