DOJ Investigation Returns To Graves and now Bond

It seems the politicizing of the Justice Department has some ramifications in Missouri.

(Via K.C. Star)

- Murphy

A Little Bit Of Context

Floyd Norris of The New York Times tonight on Charlie Rose just noted that in today's stock collapse $1.2 trillion of value disappeared.  One of the largest dollar-figure drops in history.

That collapse occurred due to the market's reaction to the failure of the rescue package.

The number bandied about since Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's proposed package has been circling $700 billion.

The great protectors of the market, a.k.a. the House Republican, balked at signing off on a plan that had a $700 billion tag laid on it, a figure no one could really verify, pin down or stand behind. As a result, $1.2 trillion in value vanished in a matter of hours.

Had the bill passed, the normal legislative and executive process would take over and things would have continued, the market would have likely responded positively and the process of trying to untangle this gordian knot would proceed. The $700 billion figure is a fixation, but the final figures are unknowable at this point. A steady, but slow, accumulation of selected assets through this bill may have allowed the private investors to return in confidence, thus reducing the need for government intervention. 

Now, however, we are perhaps worse off that we were had there been no vote at all. How many of the Republican members' assets were part of that $1.2 trillion that evaporated thanks to their inaction?

- Murphy

Whip It Good

Missouri's own Rep. Roy Blunt (R-Springfield) blamed Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (D-CA) speech today for turning key Republican votes against the financial rescue package. Even the 12 members he thought he had whipped in line bailed on the bill.

It's worth noting that Blunt is the Republican whip in the house, charged with bringing members in-line when the leadership (of which he is a part) decides to press an issue.

An issue, perhaps, like the package President George W. Bush, Republican Presidential candidate John McCain and House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) all promised would pass with the support of their Republican colleagues in the House. 

Sen. McCain went so far this morning as to remind voters that he went so far as to suspend his campaign for President, in order to go back to Washington and help hammer out a deal (which he believed in taking credit for this morning, but since the vote has been incommunicado on the subject).

After two-thirds of the Republicans in the House bailed on the bill, Boehner and others tried to place the blame squarely on Pelosi whose speech (read the transcript here) emphasized the role deregulation and Republican support for pulling economic oversight played in the economic catastrophe before us. It was a rebuke to Republican policies, to be sure. And even perhaps badly timed (it couldn't have hurt to wait until after the vote?). 

Yet if the Republican members had been serious about supporting the bill, in the belief it was the correct move, than it certainly should not have dissuaded them.

In fact, it looks more likely that a majority of Republican members were not happy with the bill and after not convincing their leadership that their alternative (assuming they had a practical one and not simply the "insurance" plan) was preferable to amended Bush-Paulson proposal, they decided to deep-six the entire deal.

Where does that leave the markets and the American voters? With the greatest one-day point drop in stock market history and greater uncertainty for the workers and business owners who are wondering where their retirement funds went and whether they will be able to maintain the lines of credit necessary to allow their businesses to continue.

There was an unattributed comment circulated late last week that said, essentially, "better to risk a Great Depression, than sacrifice the 'free market'". I guess we can chalk it up to the Republican members of the 110th Congress.

- Murphy

McCain May Want To Look Away

Despite the general consensus that the debate was "soporific" draw, it is hard to look back at it and not see it as a win for Sen. Barack Obama.

While it did not provide the fireworks many were hoping for, on both the substantive and stylistic fronts, the meeting explained much.

Much of the McCain campaign has been about defining Obama as unserious, unprepared and inexperienced. In fact, after stripping away McCain's own confusing mix of proposals and rants, his entire campaign is based around attacking Obama on those terms.

Last night Obama deftly dealt with those attacks, excepting the experience issue. Yet even there he deflected those attacks by again raising the question of judgment.

The inexperience issue may still be "operative" but as conservative commentator George Will wrote in a column criticizing McCain's tempestuous temperament and questioning his fitness to be President, "Unreadiness can be corrected, although perhaps at great cost, by experience. Can a dismaying temperament be fixed?"

McCain pushed his experience and tried to deflect Republican-fatigue by wrapping himself in the "Maverick" flag-even calling himself a Maverick, violating rule one of being a Maverick-but can that overcome a steady effort by the Obama campaign to highlight McCain's record of supporting President George W. Bush (a.k.a. He Who Will Not Be Named) 90% of the time?

Last night Obama looked composed, prepared, respectful and ready. In a word, he showed the voters he was "Presidential" material. The voters seemed to respond positively: CNN, CBS.

- Murphy

Secret Ninja Threat?

What is the deal with The Riverfront Times' Best Of issue? Every page or so there is an inexplicable photo women dressed in martial arts gear posed for big trouble in River City.

The only apparent theme of the photos is that they are all staged at prominent St. Louis locations. There is no relation to either A. St. Louis or B. the categories-the title pages of which are also bedazzled by a weapon-wielding warrior.

Is this some sort of quick-response action team drafted to protect St. Louis landmarks? Is there some sort of ninja threat that is being kept from the public? 

Where is Public Safety Director Charles Bryson and his Department? Are he and the board of Police Commissioners camped out in the emergency command center carved out below the World War I memorial downtown, reviewing the complete Bruce Lee library in an effort to cut off the shadow warriors at the pass?

If this is the case, shouldn't the RFT be putting its crackerjack news department on the case rather than hand over the paper to its ad department? (Though they are known for their sick sword handling) I mean they are all about shining a gimlet eye on the powers-that-be, right?

- Murphy

The Nuge As McCartney's Bodyguard?

In times we find ourselves overtopped with weirdness, we can always export our surplus...

Rebellious rocker, avid 2nd amendment supporter and fervent anti-jihadist, Ted Nugent has volunteered to be Paul McCartney's bodyguard at an upcoming concert in Israel.

British paper The Guardian reports that the former Beatle has yet to respond to the well-armed rocker's offer, which comes in the wake of death threats aimed at McCartney.

- Murphy

Republican Mayor For Nixon

In the deep red heart of St. Charles lies St. Peters. Home to lots of quick stops and extra-lane intersections, the town is also a major source of blue-collar Republicans; folks who voted for Reagan and never looked back. 

Attorney General Jay Nixon, Democratic candidate for the gubernatorial mansion, has been basing a great deal of his campaign on winning back those voters who have gone heavily Red in national races, but do vote blue in local races-provided they believe the candidate is one of them.

In what may be a boost in that campaign, the Mayor of St. Peters, Len Pagano, has endorsed Nixon.

Middle-class families and small businesses in towns like mine across Missouri are hurting these days, and Jay Nixon is the only candidate for Governor with a real plan to turn our economy around. As Attorney General, Jay has gone after companies that broke promises to keep jobs in Missouri, and as Governor, he will prioritize education and workforce development to bring new employers to the state.

...

Congressman Hulshof just doesn't get it, but Jay Nixon does, and that's why I am breaking with my party to support him this November. I urge you to join me by writing your local newspapers in support of Jay's plan to turn Missouri's economy around.

Pagano was elected in April of this year.

- Murphy

The Indefatigable Ed Martin

Does he keep it in a safe by his bed? Locked in a vial in a safety deposit box? Where does Martin keep the time machine that allows him to slip from role to role in a shorter period than most post-grad interns could manage.

Martin's latest hat is that of a cable-access political commentator on Charter's CCIN. Called Midwest Talking Points, the show will take a look at Missouri political news. (Via Pub Def).

Though less a technocratic libertarian than a conservative barrister, Martin may be the Newt Gingrich of Missouri.

Politician, advisor, advocate and commentator; Martin is there.

- Murphy

Fiorina's Out?

CNN is reporting that Carly Fiorina, the former Hewlett-Packard CEO and top McCain campaign official, is likely to drop from view for the next few weeks. 

The likely cause of her disappearance follows her comments to journalists on two occasions that Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin could not run a major corporation; something Fiorina did for a number of, sometimes tumultuous, years. On her second comment she tried to temper the perceived slight by adding that neither Republican candidate John McCain nor Democratic nominee Barack Obama could run a major corporation either.

Fiorina originally told St. Louis radio host McGraw Milhaven on Monday that Palin couldn't run a corporation. She then compounded her move by expanding on it to Andrea Mitchell on MSNBC this morning.

It was a bad slip and an even worse recovery. When a major figure in your campaign-who also happens to have been a very successful businesswoman who broke into one of the oldest boys clubs by being the first female head of a Fortune 20 company-says both the head and the number two members of the presidential ticket don't have what it takes to run a major company, that just hands two days of media to the Democrats. And who knows how many campaign ads.

Republicans have long used the imagery of government as a "business" in order to shore up their many business-beholden candidates. Remember President George W. Bush's "CEO President" line? Having a genuinely successful business executive (as opposed to a mediocre CEO like Bush, or the series of former government officials who leave the public sphere to land in well-packaged executive slots in friendly companies like McCain's former economic advisor Phil Gramm) cut down your candidates business acumen-not once, but twice-is a sharp blow.

Fiorina herself was once seen as being on the short list for McCain's VP slot. She has been very public as a McCain surrogate including debating Sen. Claire McCaskill-long a Obama supporter-on ABC's This Week this past Sunday.

Her less than convincing arguments on Sunday, combined with her recent slip, perhaps explains why Palin-who appears eminently scriptable-got the nod instead. 

Of course, there is also the fact that she is an ambitious, strong, capable and successful woman who made her mark in a world dominated by men. But that wouldn't factor into their thinking at all...right? Palin was clearly the most capable Republican woman available to run.

- Murphy

Spore Spreads

One of the most talked about game has been the recently release Spore. A game where players create characters and set them lose in worlds where they are allowed to evolve. Perhaps a gamers' blend of intelligent design and evolution.

Not being a gamer myself, I doubt that I will play the game myself, but the interest the game's "evolution" component has me intrigued.

The next-generation software earned it a discussion on NPR's Science Friday show. Host Joe Palka spoke with evolutionary biologists and the game's creators. While they focused on the possibility of encouraging gamers to learn to think about their relation with the world around them via their characters, the substance of the idea seemed a bit thin.  More sales pitch than revolution.

While science fans geek out over the integration of sophisticated evolutionary modeling programs with mass-marketed consumer software, the real question is: do people enjoy it?

The Washington Post's tech columnist, Mike Musgrove, reports that reviews of the gameplay are mixed, but that the game maker's anti-piracy efforts have set off the strongest opinions. Musgrove says players generally enjoy the game, but that it fell short of other games it appeared to borrow ideas from, such as the famous SimCity, which Spore's creators also designed.

Cult of Mac writer Leigh McMullen also gave it mixed reviews; enjoyable, but didn't have the hook other games of its ilk such as World of Warcraft, Civilization and Sims.

Players who enjoy the strategy/role-playing genre of games are, unsurprisingly, demanding. Someone willing to involve themselves in a game that can potentially become a "second life" are looking for a lot.

The aspect of integrating software that allows game characters to evolve is not new. While the creators of Spore have brought new code to the process, the basics remain the same. 

Three years in the making, the game has landed with a lot of news, but time will tell if it can compete; not only with World of Warcraft and the others, but the creators own classic SimCity.

- Murphy