The Political Whore

By Al Coryell
PoHo correspondent

RECESSIONOMICS

Question: We’re not headed into another Great Depression, are we?

Can you see the similarities between the chart patterns above? If I told you the left chart was a prelude to the greatest economic disaster in American history, what would you surmise about the chart on the right?

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If you haven’t already, I highly recommend checking out Talking Points Memo’s “The Day in 100 Seconds.” It’s amazing how many video clips can be crammed into a minute-forty.

• Obama unveils team of Superfriends to fight crime around the globe.
• First up for the Superfriends …
• Politico: Alex Sink won’t run against Sen. Martinez.
• …but Martinez is vulnerable.
• Pat Kemp wins Hillsborough Democrat chief’s job.
• Crist’s plan to suspend foreclosures through the holidays hits Time magazine.
• Breaking news! Breaking news! We’ve been in a recession since December 2007.
• The stock market takes a shit.
• The Pentagon plans 20,000 troops stationed in the U.S. by 2011.
• And the new host of Meet the Press is …
• The stars aligned. Did you miss it?

Palm Beach, Fl. Fifth-grader and aspiring reporter Damon Weaver interviews Joe Biden, asking the veep candidate what it is that a VP actually does. He likes Biden’s answer enough to declare them officially “homeboys.”

• Florida early voting sites to stay open longer each day to better disenfranchise the citizenry.
• Q Poll: Obama ahead by 2 points in statistical tie.
• LAT-Bloomberg: Obama up by 7.
• Obama cuts McCain’s lead to just 2 points in McCain’s home state, Arizona!
• … but the McCain campaign says the race is tightening. Rrrrriiigggghhht.
• Our daily “Nearer My God to Thee” Media update: Time Inc. will lay off 600 workers; Gannett to cut 3,000.
• Enjoy those big gains from yesterday Dow fans. They should be gone by this afternoon.
• Tonight’s half-hour Obama ad will not run on CNN, but will lead into the World Series on Fox.
• Speaking of which: Game 5 resumes tonight — if it doesn’t snow!
• Rate cut! Rate cut! Rate cut!
• The credit crunch finally hits the cards.
• Christian Science Monitor to dump the print paper and go Web-only (mostly).
• Consumer Confidence disappearing faster than your employer’s match of your 401(k).
• Ralph Nader rallies 150 troops in Ybor City.

When is martial law permissible in the U.S.? For one Arkansas town, the answer is “right now!”

• McCain figures out the Interwebs enough to crib some talking points from Wikipedia.
• Russia rampages across Georgia as the West ponders how to stop the fighting.
• This week’s reason to hate Bush’s guts: The administration’s proposed rule changes gutting the Endangered Species Act.
• Oil goes down, stocks go up. See a pattern?
• There must be something in the water, other than the swimmers that is.
• The Boss to play the Super Bowl in Tampa.
• Hillsborough electric rates set to spike 40%.
• Spain’s basketball teams (male and female) need some sensitivity training.
• The Rays start dropping like flies.

Our new hero. Have a good weekend everyone.

• Happy days are here again!
• It’s great that the convicted D.C. madam chose suicide over prison, but did she have to do it in the Bay area?
• The polls continue to tighten.
• More surprising: Obama’s proposed $15 billion tax on oil company profits, or the fact that $15 billion is only 10% of what the bastards walked away with last year?
• Bush makes history.
• Hot or not? Barbara Walters got in on with a married U.S. Senator back in the ’70s.
• Puff, Puff, Give: Smoking weed will not give you lung cancer, and it might even protect you from it.
  
• Bombs away! It’s raining babies in India.

No end in sight.

• Obama answers every question the Chicago Tribune can think up about Tony Rezko, escapes intact.
• The kicker: Rising gas prices may wipe out any economic benefit of the coming Bush stimulus checks.
• How low will it go? The stock market preps for a rocky Monday.
• Sure Gov. Crist used to smoke weed recreationally, but that’s no reason to change drug policy.
• What Florida needs now is more traffic laws.
• The rich history of St. Patrick’s Day, more recently known as an excuse to wear green and get shit-faced in public.
• Office pool alert: Get your printable NCAA tournament bracket sheet here.
• Beverly Hills 90210: The Spinoff.

(Photo Credit: debaird)

“I don’t see this ‘paradox’ you speak of.”

• The FED cuts the overnight lending rate by 75 basis points, the stock market’s tanking and Bush wants to give low-income people cash money. Is this this apocalypse?
• Paging Dr. Strangelove: “The first use of nuclear weapons must remain in the quiver of escalation as the ultimate instrument to prevent the use of weapons of mass destruction.”
• Another day, another Democratic debate. Watching both party’s candidates makes me ponder a one-way trip to Canada.
• Rudy falls behind in New York. It makes sense; they know him best.
• HBO unveils a “free” broadband download service that’ll only run you $52 a month.
• Where’s the coldest place in the universe? Hint: Take I-95 north until you see nothing but Red Sox hats.
• Brady’s hurt! Brady’s hurt! Will the gamesmanship ever end?
• Hide the beer: Kiefer Sutherland is back on the streets after 48 days in jail.