Paradox at TheLeftCoaster writes:

Surfing the net these days will garner financial advice from almost any site, folks are rightly worried sick in these troubled times and want to know the best practices for their money. The articles always say to keep investing in your 401k, no matter what. Yuck.

I rolled over my 401k funds this year and now I’m extremely sorry I did; it’s not that the value has been chopped by 35%, I don’t trust Wall St. or American business in any sense, and I don’t want my cash supporting Wall St. companies and institutions.

I, like most Americans, are stuck with this lousy 401k system, more and more companies are abandoning even any contributing matching funds. In theory I could get out, I don’t mind paying the taxes, but the IRS penalty is a killer. Still, I’m thinking about it.

What are your thoughts on retirement funding?  I know that my latest statement shows about a 15 percent decline (I'm in a conservative option on my 401k).

Money market?  Bonds?  T-bills?  Pork bellies?

Is this what ABC should be doing?  Asking people if a fantasy show is more important than the reality of who should be our next president?  This exposes the essential greed of corporate television because high ratings translates into bigger advertising fees a network can charge for a show. 

See ABC's promo here.

Bob Schaffer's out of touch, wrong on critical issues rap-sheet grows by the day. I found this latest charge in Ed Quillen's column in the Sunday Denver Post.

Read the whole column online at http://www.denverpost.com/quillen/ci_10799075

or scroll down to the extended post text.

The Referendum A test still carries a lot of weight with me.  Once again here's a case where Bob Schaffer sided with big-monied interests and against Colorado farmers, ranchers and communities.

Hopefully, he'll be sliding into the dustbin of Colorado political history by 10:00 PM on November 4th.  Being too cozy with the "drill baby, drill" crowd of oilies is bad enough, but working on the wrong side of water policy is unforgiveable.

PS - If you get a chance, drop a complimentary email to Ed (his email link at at the end of the Extended Post Text).  It is so hard to find something worthy of praise in the Denver Post these days that we should encourage Ed to continue his good work.

This ongoing negotiations between US and Iraq is not being reported by US corporate television or, especially, local television but it certainly is being followed by the rest of the world's nations.  Since Mr. Bush is leaving office he simply doesn't care about what this nation used to stand for because he wants to lock in the US to Iraq for the next president. 

From McClatchy Washington Bureau, reporters Roy Gutman and Leila Fadel write:

BAGHDAD _ The U.S. military has warned Iraq that it will shut down military operations and other vital services throughout the country on Jan. 1 if the Iraqi government doesn't agree to a new agreement on the status of U.S. forces or a renewed United Nations mandate for the American mission in Iraq.

Many Iraqi politicians view the move as akin to political blackmail, a top Iraqi official told McClatchy Sunday.

In addition to halting all military actions, U.S. forces would cease activities that support Iraq’s economy, educational sector and other areas _ "everything" _ said Tariq al Hashimi, the country’s Sunni Muslim vice president. "I didn’t know the Americans are rendering such wide-scale services."

While readers on this site will be outraged.  It is time for our Senators to become involved.  In the past Mr. Bush has tried to circumvent the Senate's confirmation of treaties power.  This "Status of Forces Agreement" should roundly be condemned by Senators as a whole. 

The only way this will happen if we put some pressure on our Senators to make this an issue.

Ask them is it ethical to blackmail Iraq "partner" into a new agreement by the torture and blackmail President?  Ask them if "status of forces" agreement is a transparent attempt to circumvent the constitutional duty of the Senate to confirm "treaties"?

What do you think Senator Salazar would say?  Allard?  How about candidates Udall or Shaffer?

It is time to deny the 70 billion USD bonuses with the 700 billion USD bailout package being paid for by us.

UKGuardian.com has this:

Financial workers at Wall Street's top banks are to receive pay deals worth more than $70bn (£40bn), a substantial proportion of which is expected to be paid in discretionary bonuses, for their work so far this year - despite plunging the global financial system into its worst crisis since the 1929 stock market crash, the Guardian has learned.

Staff at six banks including Goldman Sachs and Citigroup are in line to pick up the payouts despite being the beneficiaries of a $700bn bail-out from the US government that has already prompted criticism. The government's cash has been poured in on the condition that excessive executive pay would be curbed.

Perhaps we should be doing this as per the Merkel government.

Chris Carey notes:

The German government has taken a more stringent approach with banks participating in its bailout program. Companies there would have to cap salaries for top executives at 500,000 Euros, or roughly $635,000. The German plan also would prohibit them from receiving bonuses until the debt to the government is repaid.

Reports are coming in that Barack Obama's Colorado appearances today were record breaking. One Democratic Party insider says that the Denver Rally pulled in over 100,000 supporters.

I was within a softball toss of Barack in Fort Collins. One early estimate claims 45,000 attended; it sure looked like a lot more than that to me.  The Eastern half of the CSU Oval was filled with people, and more were crowded into the Southwest quarter of the Oval.

If I were priviledged enough...I would paste in one of my low-res pictures of the crowd.  But, even Barack said that the setting was incredible.  The trees surrounding the Oval were in full color.

Barack's message has evolved, even from the acceptance speach at Mile High.  Focused, positive and thoroughly inspiring.

I was struck by several uses of "the future" today.  Each time was full of hope and desire for the best for all Americans.  Barack's comments were on-target for a number of topics:  the economy, healthcare, primary education, secondary education, jobs and how John McCain is out of touch.

The program started with a prayer, the Pledge of Allegiance and an a capella performance of the National Anthem.  Betsy Markey gave one of her best speaches as did Governor Bill Ritter.

Other news organizations will have a full transcript of the speach.  The press contingent was impressive.  But, news coverag does not compare to being there...being there to see the future President.

The Rocky Mountain News weighs-in this morning with a good report on the growing revelations of the GOP voter suppression agenda. Curiously, this shows in Colorado as a fight between the GOP Secretary of State and two strong GOP County Clerks.

The County Clerks, Republicans Scott Doyle (Larimer) and Pam Anderson (Jefferson), are holding the line for what is right and just in the face of CD-6 Candidate and Secretary of State Coffman's fixation on a questionable policy. This year's election controversy is increasingly looking like valid charges of radicals in the GOP deliberately using technicalities and irrational procedural hoops to deny eligible citizens the right and opportunity to vote.

The contemporary "voter fraud" cries of the GOP are a manufactured issue with the sole purpose of suppressing likely Democratic voters. There is no problem other than the radical conservatives seeing their political clout wither with each succeeding election. The facts of the miniscule number of REAL cases of Federal and State voter fraud charges and convictions in recent history defy the hysteria of the GOP.

Doyle and Anderson are providing leadership and good public policy for all of Colorado. Too bad that there is some other influence keeping Mike Coffman from recognizing, and acting on, that good example. Maybe it is too much for him to run for Congress and be responsible for a fair election.

Read the Rocky's full story online at:

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/oct/22/secretary-of-state-stands-by-registration-check/

Digby says:

Have you ever watched people identified on TV as a "political consultant" and thought to yourself, "geez, I could do better than that." Well, now you can prove it...

This is a really fun concept. The ads are great and the idea that we can all contribute directly to put these ads on the air is a fantastic new empowerment tool.

And it's going to drive the insiders nuts ....

Here is the Blue America - SaysMe TV homepage to get started.

The ad will be narrowcast on cable channels NOT broadcast.

One of the most disagreable experiences I've had during this year's political campaign came when national, and local, groups viciously attacked the integrity, motivations and message of General Petraeus. Yet, on Wednesday the conservative Heritage Foundation heard policies and concepts from Petraeus that confirm the campaign platform of Barack Obama.

The complete story from the "Washington Independent" is in the Extended Post Text (via Foreign Policy magazine's Daily Brief service). This is an online news outlet associated with Colorado Confidential.

This can't stay a minor story. Petraeus' comments must be shared, and the Obama campaign should advertise these policies and tactics with enthusiasm.

Part of the value in this this is seeing a competent national leader, Obama, openly discuss a strategic vision and mission for the US military.  Now we're seeing that a widely praised general is able to accept that mission and describe the operational policies and tactics to accomplish what is apparently Barack Obama's security policy in opposition to McCain's irrational Iraq fixation.

Amy Goodman is the first journalist to receive the Right Livelihood Award, widely recognized as the world’s premier award for personal courage and social transformation. The annual prize, also known as the Alternative Nobel, will be awarded in the Swedish Parliament on December 8, 2008. [From the Democracy Now! website.]

Show your love by supporting Democracy Now! on Channel 12 KBDI.  Let KBDI know by calling them and telling them you watch Amy Goodman.

This will make her "untouchable" to the anti-abortion wingnuts.  Courtesy to Ms. Couric, CBSNews:

Couric: Do you think there's an inherent right to privacy in the Constitution?

Palin: I do. Yeah, I do.

Both dday, Digby's blog, wrote:

I don't know if she believes in the right to privacy or if she believes in the words "right" and "privacy" and saw them together and took a stab at it. But this is a major, MAJOR no-no for the fundies and the wingnuts. She undermined the entire intellectual argument against Roe without even recognizing it. Taking her logic (if it can be called that), if there's a Constitutional right to privacy then there's a right to keep medical decisions confidential, not a state's right but a fundamental Constitutional right....

and Johnathon Singer, MyDD.com, noted:

Nevertheless, at a time when the conservative cognoscenti is beginning to abandon the GOP Vice Presidential nominee in the wake of serious misstatements and a glaring inability to engage on even the simplest issues of policy -- which does have the potential of trickling down to the electorate (if the Republican base, which is still less enthused than the Democratic base, becomes dejected over Palin's weaknesses, a real rout could be a possibility)

Christy Hardin Smith, Firedoglake.com, looks to failed Supreme Court nominee and Federalist Society ranter Robert Bork, quotes:

'Judge Bork said, but the Court's remedy was worse. ''It comes out of nowhere and doesn't have any rooting in the Constitution,'' he said, maintaining that lacking such a rooting in text or the Framers' intent, judges invite ''disastrous'' consequences...'

Way to shore up the base, Sarah -- heckuva job! And I mean that!

In reading the comments section on John Aravosis' AmericaBlog.com about this "gaffe" by Sarah is akin to what I find in kids taking CSAP.  There is a lot of facts the kids know but there is nothing to connect those "facts" into a coherent whole.  The facts are just there for questions to a test that they have to take. Understanding the theories which these "facts" support is missing.

This one of the key comments made:

sukabi1 13 hours ago 1 point I think her "trainers" have tried to cram in too many of their talking points / positions and she's getting them all mixed up... she's basically repeating McCain's supposed positions and doesn't really understand what she's saying. Chances are her "trainers" haven't bothered to take the time to explain them to her...

Really, how much can you really learn AND UNDERSTAND in a couple of days of "cramming"? This really is a failure of McCain, for picking a grossly unqualified person. And a failure of his campaign staff for trying to cram in "talking points" without taking the time to explain the terminology they expect her to use.

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