Speaking of professors

[sort of...]

History Dept.: Palin Connected to Hate Groups
The chair of the Connecticut College history department, Catherine McNicol Stock, has suggested that Sarah Palin is somehow associated with Pacific Northwest hate groups such as Posse Comitatus and the Aryan Nations.

Her proof? Well, because Palin lived in areas with low "diversity." I kid you not. Here is the professor's "learned thesis" presented in a Philadelphia Inquirer opinion column melodramatically titled, "Intolerance thrives in Palin's Pacific Northwest" ...
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Palin 'Inflicts' Her Religion on US, She's 'Not a Woman'
Wendy Doniger is a columnist for Newsweek's "On Faith" beat and is also the Mircea Eliade Distinguished Service Professor of the History of Religions at the University of Chicago. But that doesn't seem to have made her less of a wiled-eyed Republican hater, unfortunately. That her hate is directed at Governor Sarah Palin also shows that these sorts of women aren't interested in helping strong women to public influence but only their kind of ideologue is acceptable.

"I object strongly when anyone (and especially anyone with political power) tries to take their theology out in public, to inflict those private religious (or sexual) views on other people. In both sex and religion (which combine in the debates about abortion), Sarah Palin's views make me fear that the Republican party has finally lost its mind."

You see, Sarah Palin has never"inflicted" her religious views on the public. Naturally, we see that this slanderous septuagenarian obviously has nothing but hatred for those Republicans she is so fearful of and she has allowed her superstitions to overtake any sense of reality or reason...
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Metro State Prof Investigated For Palin Assignment
Metro State College is investigating a professor who asked students to write an essay critical of Republican vice presidential candidate Gov. Sarah Palin. One student said the instructor singled out Republican students in the class and allowed others to ridicule them.

"I was shocked, I was holy cow, this is just an open door for him to discuss politics with us,"

Barber shared the first class assignment with CBS4. Instructor Andrew Hallam asked students to write an essay to contradict what he called the 'fairy tale image of Palin' presented at the Republican National Convention.

Metro State officials are investigating claims of bias, harassment and bullying. Hallam declined an interview with CBS4. He has revised the assignment.

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Bill Moyers' Fights Conservative Talk Radio on PBS
In his weekly prime time national taxpayer-supported PBS show on September 12, 2008, left wing icon Bill Moyers targeted talk radio -- and not for the first time.

But this time, the first one-third of the hour long program featured an in-depth report, ''Rage on the Radio - What happens when America's airwaves fill with hate?'' The report focused exclusively on conservative, right of center talk radio.

[have you ever heard Air America? {or 'green 960' here in the bay area?}]
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Rover, call me an ambulance— dog calls 911

PHOENIX - "Man's best friend" doesn't go far enough for Buddy — a German shepherd who remembered his training and saved his owner's life by calling 911 when the man had a seizure. And it's not the first time Buddy has been there for owner Joe Stalnaker, a police officer said Sunday. On a recording of the 911 call Wednesday, Buddy is heard whimpering and barking after the dispatcher answers ...

['good dog']
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Eating veggies shrinks the brain

MELBOURNE: Scientists have discovered that going veggie could be bad for your brain-with those on a meat-free diet six times more likely to suffer brain shrinkage. Vegans and vegetarians are the most likely to be deficient because the best sources of the vitamin are meat, particularly liver, milk and fish

[ah, this explains much...]
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Fundamental question: Is economy really OK?

[HT:TP]

"Strains in financial markets have increased significantly and labor markets have weakened further,"

the Fed said in a sober assessment Tuesday. But in deciding against lowering interest rates, the central bank signaled that it didn't see the economy's present situation as dire. Nariman Behravesh, chief economist at Global Insight, a Lexington, Mass., forecasting firm, says

"If the issue is whether the U.S. had a dynamic, resilient economy, and that the long-term trends are positive, I completely agree. ... It's important not to get carried away with gloom and doom."

After turning negative in the final three months of 2007 and growing at an anemic 0.9 percent in the first three months of 2008, the nation's gross domestic product grew at 3.3 percent in the April-June quarter. A survey of CEOs by accounting firm PriceWaterHouseCoopers found that they are not planning cutbacks of people, products or services.

Instead, the CEOs are focusing on opportunities to improve efficiency and ways to emerge from the slowdown in a better position to compete...

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Barack Obama's Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac Connection

Lehman Brothers collapse is traced back to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two big mortgage banks that got a federal bailout a few weeks ago. Freddie and Fannie used huge lobbying budgets and political contributions to keep regulators off their backs.

(Snip) The top three U.S. senators getting big Fannie and Freddie political bucks were Democrats and No. 2 is Sen. Barack Obama. Now remember, he's only been in the Senate four years, but he still managed to grab the No. 2 spot ahead of John Kerry...

[and behind #1 Dodd]

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ACORN, Fannie Mae and Motor Voter

M. Simon traces the funds Fannie Mae pumped into vote fraud specialists ACORN, and explains how that organization pressed for the grant of mortgages to unqualified buyers, leading to the subprime mortgage mess and Fannie Mae collapse.

He also links the organization to Chicago politician and "post-partisan" nominee for President, Barack Obama; ACORN is a former legal client of Senator Obama's, as the Sun-Times reported in 2006...

[there's that ACORN outfit again... mentioned in connection with voter fraud, again...
{FLASHBACKs: NNBrief 6/19, 9/10, 9/15 }]

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Mad Media

The liberal media are angry. Very, very angry. Not because "the press is being manipulated." Rather, because the American people are resisting manipulation by the media. [snip]

In other words, the media are going after McCain.

In his piece Kurtz cites two allegedly 'false' claims from McCain ads that are in fact basically true. Back when Barack Obama was coasting toward victory, normal campaign exaggerations ("You know, John McCain wants to continue a war in Iraq for 100 years") didn't fill the media with loathing for Obama. But now the McCain camp's exaggerations do?

Why? Because McCain is doing well. And because Sarah Palin is surviving--even flourishing--in the midst of the liberal media onslaught.

When the media get mad, they don't just pout. They pounce. How? By any means necessary...

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Media pummel Palin while Obama gets kid gloves

Former top Hillary Clinton adviser Mark Penn says the media obsession with finding skeletons in the closet of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin since virtually the moment she was named the Republican vice presidential candidate could well backfire.

(snip)The scrutiny accorded Governor Palin is far more intense and malicious in its intent than any directed toward either of the men on the Democratic ticket.

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What kind of expertise should voters look for?

Let's be blunt: If John McCain wins the election and drops dead during his first year in office, someone not very experienced will become president. But the same is true if Barack Obama wins the election and doesn't drop dead during his first year in office. [snip]

The best a voter can do is attempt to discern - amid the kabuki theater that is the modern presidential campaign -- a candidate's values, temperament and, yes, ideology - which is to say his political philosophy.

Should we go along with our West European friends who are surrendering their sovereignty to the United Nations, to "world courts" and to various non-governmental organizations? Or should we zealously guard America's independence?

Should the United States continue to make the sacrifices required to remain a superpower? Or would we be better off relinquishing such burdens and embracing what left-leaning foreign policy experts call a "post-American" world?

Is it imperative to reverse America's increasing dependence on foreign oil as quickly as possible? If so, we'll have to drill just about everywhere while also developing alternative energy sources. And if that means not cutting carbon dioxide emissions for the next few years, is it worth it?

Are we fighting a real war against Islamist terrorist regimes and movements - one that requires some tough and even unconventional weapons? Or is terrorism just a criminal justice problem that police, lawyers and courts are competent to handle?

Should America invest in a comprehensive missile defense system? Or is it safe to assume that our contemporary enemies can be deterred, as were the Soviets, by the prospect of "mutually assured destruction"?

If you know where the candidates stand on these issues - and where you stand - deciding for whom to vote should not be too difficult.

[Highly Recommended > ]

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Telling blows in the war on terror

IN 2002, the Australian intelligence agencies, then working to the Howard government, were informing their US counterparts of a disturbing occurrence within Australia. A man of Iraqi origin, who enjoyed both Iraqi and Australian citizenship, was assembling the components of an unmanned aerial vehicle here. He had also sent away for aerial navigational information regarding Washington, DC, and other parts of the US.

The intelligence agencies hatched the idea of approaching the Iraqi to see if he was indeed working for the Baghdad government and whether he could be turned as a source. Whatever his ultimate intentions had been, the Iraqi did not end up providing information about Saddam Hussein's government.

This information has never been revealed before. It illustrates the vast global work involved in effective counter-terrorism, the relentlessness of it and its labour intensity. [snip]

In many ways the US-led war on terror has been extraordinarily successful. Al-Qa'ida and its affiliates have not been able to mount an attack in the US, or in Australia, since 9/11. This is no accident. It is the result of relentless police, intelligence, military and diplomatic work... [snip]

There is also no doubt that al-Qa'ida wants to acquire weapons of mass destruction, particularly nuclear weapons.

Given the breadth of its support internationally, its notoriously long view of strategy, its operational persistence, and the propensity of democracies to lose focus on threats that are quiet for a while, the odds still have to favour al-Qa'ida eventually succeeding in this aim.

And that will change absolutely everything

[Recommended > ]

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Terrorists find ally in Left’s willing dupes

SEVEN years after Osama bin Laden’s jihadis razed New York’s World Trade Centre towers and crashed hijacked aircraft into the Pentagon and a Pennsylvania paddock, a Melbourne jury has convicted seven men on terrorist charges, ending a phase in the nation’s largest and longest-running terrorism trial.

The conviction of Melbourne’s self-anointed ``cleric’’ and ``sheik’’ Abdul Nacer Benbrika, his three ringleaders and other members of his group, have given the lie to those who protested that Islamists were being wrongly targeted by the authorities and some in the media.

Those who condemned all who warned against the possibility that the awful message of jihad and terrorism would find willing recruits here, those who sought to thwart the authorities from pursuing the purveyors of hate, stand exposed as willing dupes to this awful plot.

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IAEA: Iran To Upgrade Missile For Nuke Use

[HT:MN]
Vienna, Austria - he U.N. nuclear agency has presented intelligence allegedly showing plans to redesign an Iranian missile to accommodate a nuclear payload. The International Atomic Energy Agency shared the intelligence with 35 nations on Tuesday, but the Iranian representative to the organization says the information was fabricated.

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Experts: Only military action can stop Iran

The Iranian nuclear crisis may have crossed the point of no return while the threat of nuclear terrorism is on the rise, according to a panel of experts on proliferation. These somber assessments where voiced Monday during a seminar on nuclear capabilities hosted by the European Jewish Congress in Brussels.

"Only military action can stop Iran, or else Iran will acquire nuclear weapons to the great detriment of regional and even global stability"

Discussions were chaired by EJC president Moshe Kantor, who deplored the fact that some 10,000 companies in Europe are still collaborating with Iran on the development of its gas and oil industry. Kantor estimated this industry to have a turnover of approximately $100 billion dollars.

"The collaboration continues and even big European Union countries cannot stop their business community from investing in Iran's proliferation process."

The finding of the roundtable was that in all relevant respects of nuclear terrorism, the situation has worsened, and that nuclear weapons are in real danger of falling into the hands of terrorists.

['real danger'? Absolute certainty: the day after Iran has a bomb they hand it to Hezbollah - who've cells here. All enabled by the brain-dead fecklessness of our European 'allies'.]

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Astronomical Influences Affect Climate More Than CO2, Say Experts

Warming and cooling cycles are more directly tied in with astronomical influences than they are with human-caused carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, some scientists now say.

Recent observations point to a strong link between “solar variability” – or fluctuations in the sun’s radiation – and climate change on Earth, while other research sees the sun as just one of many heavenly bodies affecting global warming in the later half of the 20th century.

Contrary to what has been stated in a “Summary for Policymakers” attached to the United Nation’s International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report -- and in subsequent press coverage of the report -- there is scant evidence in favor of human-caused global warming, according to geologists, astrophysicists, and climatologists who have released updated studies.

An examination of warming and cooling trends over the last 400 years shows an “almost exact correlation” between all of the known climate changes that have occurred and solar energy transmitted to the Earth, while showing “no correlation at all with CO2,” Don J. Easterbrook, a geologist with Western Washington University in Bellingham, Wash.

There is data going all the way back to 1976 that show Mars has also experienced global warming. The Martian ice cap has been melting during the same time period as global warming on Earth. [snip]

“It’s practically slam dunk that we are in for about 30 years of global cooling,” he said. Not something you will read about in the media."

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What is Endangered: Climate or Freedom?

For most people, being the president of a country would be enough to keep one busy, but not so for Vaclav Klaus of the Czech Republic [snip]

"Blue Planet in Green Shackles." The book’s subtitle -- What is Endangered: Climate or Freedom? -

- reveals Klaus’s concern about the totalitarian agenda of environmentalists. He sees no difference between the ideology of communism and that of climate change. He says he is no longer simply concerned about the consequences of politicians using global warming to gain and wield power over ordinary citizens. Klaus describes himself now as “angry.” He agrees with author Michael Crichton.

“The greatest challenge facing mankind is distinguishing between reality and fantasy, truth from propaganda”

as regards global warming.

After he delivered his talk before the MPS, President Klaus sat down for a private interview with HUMAN EVENTS. The man whom Al Gore refused to debate in public when the Czech President challenged him had much to say...

[Highly Recommended > ]

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Disposable goods targeted by new French tax plan

[HT:RE]
Paris - Plastic forks, disposable diapers, drafty houses - if it hurts the environment, make it cost more.

That's the message France's government wants to send with a raft of proposed new taxes. France's ecology minister said Sunday the government is considering a ''picnic tax'' on disposable dishes

(Snip) And she said it could even be extended to homes, based on how energy-efficient they are...

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"If a man really wants to make a million dollars, the best way would be to start his own religion."

-- Scientology founder L. Ron. Hubbard

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Consumer prices fall for first time since 2006

Consumer prices in August posted the first monthly decline in nearly two years as Americans finally get a break from surging energy prices.The Labor Department reported today that consumer prices edged down 0.1 percent last month, a significant improvement from a 1.1 percent price spike in June and a 0.8 percent rise in July.

The cost of gasoline and other fuels have plunged, reflecting big drops in crude oil prices.

[reminder: energy costs {especially mobile energy} effects the cost of everything. Imagine the effect on inflation if we halved the cost of diesel and gas through production...]

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Democrats Still Aren't Serious About Drilling

After a five-week paid vacation, Democrats are back in Washington and claiming that they want to do something about oil prices. But the problem is that their plan, which passed the House yesterday and will likely come up for a vote in the Senate later this week, will not produce a single drop of oil. [see why: FLASHBACK: NNBrief No-Energy Nancy’s Phony Energy Plan]

Why?

Because it does nothing about environmental groups that are suing to stop drilling...

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[BTW, today's Policy-Positions EXTRA (bottom) = McCain/Obama comparison = Energy & Environment...]
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CALIFORNIA COULD LEARN FROM TEXAS

California

According to the Texas Public Policy Foundation, Texas is economically healthier than California. These states' dramatically different economic approaches have caused businesses to flock to Texas and flee California.

Here is where the difference is most pronounced:

• California's per capita government spending is 30 percent higher than Texas', and that gap continues to widen.
• In the last year, Texas has added almost 250,000 new jobs - more than half of the national total.
• California has shed 200,000 jobs just in the last four months and boasts one of the highest unemployment rates in the country.
• As employers move, so do workers; four of America's 10 fastest-growing metropolitan areas are in Texas.
• Additionally, California has a worse state legal climate, higher workers' compensation costs, a higher state minimum wage and it allows industries to force workers to join unions and pay union dues.
• In January, the Texas Legislature will return to a cash balance in the $10 billion to $15 billion range.
• California faces a $15 billion to $17 billion budget deficit for the next year, as well as structural deficits well into the foreseeable future.

All of these increase the operating costs to employers, which decreases their ability to compete against rivals in other state and countries.

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Coming Together at UN? Er, No.

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton has canceled an appearance at an anti-Iran demonstration in New York next week after organizers 'blindsided' her by inviting Republican vice presidential candidate and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, aides to the senator said Tuesday.

Clinton aides were furious. They first learned of the plan to have both Clinton and Palin appear when informed by reporters.

"Her attendance was news to us, and this was never billed to us as a partisan political event," said Clinton spokesman Philippe Reines. "Sen. Clinton will therefore not be attending."

Several American Jewish groups have planned a major rally outside the United Nations on Sept. 22 to protest against Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's threats against Israel and his planned speech on the floor of the UN later in the week.

[er, what exactly made it a 'partisan event' - I mean before Hillary pulled out because someone of the other party was showing up - ? {frankly I'd think it makes a good gesture of solidarity on what's supposedly a common goal - pity it didn't work out that way}]

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[HT:GC - Warning - Rated R...]

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[NOTE: all Policy Position comparisons can be found by going HERE - or by typing "policy positions" {in quotes!} in the Search Blog box in the upper left corner of page.]

Policy Positions Re: ENERGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT

How do Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Barack Obama (D-Ill.) differ on energy and the environment? The National Journal compared and contrasted the two presidential candidates. Below is a summary:


McCAIN ON ENERGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT

Climate change:

• McCain favors controlling greenhouse-gas emissions by capping U.S. global-warming pollutants and allowing companies to buy and sell emission "credits."
• Polluters would have until 2050 to cut their emissions by 60 percent below 1990 levels.
• Under his plan, credits would be distributed free of charge to polluting companies.
• He envisions eventually auctioning some credits and dedicating the money to new energy technologies.

Nuclear power:

• McCain seeks to build 45 additional nuclear power plants by 2030.
• He would create an international repository for commercial radioactive waste that would eliminate the need to begin storing depleted nuclear fuel rods at Nevada's Yucca Mountain.

Oil:

• McCain supports new oil and gas development off U.S. shores, but not in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and stricter regulation of the oil futures market and favors research into new technologies to lessen dependence on oil.
• He opposes mandating tougher fuel-efficiency standards for cars and trucks, and has called for suspending federal gasoline and diesel taxes, which he insists would ease summer fuel prices.

Ethanol:

• McCain supports the development of new ethanol technologies that use switchgrass or other nonfood crops; he opposes federal subsidies for the fuel additive.
• He asked the Bush administration to waive federal mandates requiring petroleum refiners to blend increasing amounts of ethanol into gasoline.

Public lands:

• McCain backs legislation to restore the Florida Everglades.
• He opposes Clinton-era proposals to block development in 60 million acres of roadless federal lands.

Source: "McCain on Energy and the Environment," in "Where They Stand," National Journal, August 30, 2008.

For text:

http://www.nationaljournal.com/njmagazine/nj_20080830_3632.php



OBAMA ON ENERGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT

Climate change:

• Obama backs ambitious legislation to cut U.S. global-warming pollution 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050.
• Under his cap-and-trade proposal, the federal government would auction greenhouse-gas emission "credits" to companies that want to continue to pollute.
• Money from the auction would be used to develop clean-energy technologies, increase efficiency and underwrite the labor costs of transitioning to new technologies.

Nuclear power:

• Obama wants to keep the nuclear power option open but says that the United States should not build more reactors until the industry finds a safe way to dispose of commercial nuclear waste.
• He opposes dumping radioactive wastes at Nevada's Yucca Mountain.

Oil:

• Obama reversed his anti-drilling position to support oil exploration along the southeastern coast and Florida shores.
• He favors proposals to require oil companies to use existing drilling leases, and calls for selling 70 million barrels of oil stockpiled in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
• He would impose tougher controls on oil speculation, end tax breaks for the oil and gas industry, impose a "windfall profits" tax on multinational oil companies and enact tougher fuel-economy standards on new cars and trucks.

Electricity:

• Obama would require power companies to generate one-quarter of their electricity from solar, wind or other sustainable sources by 2025.
• He also favors ambitious efficiency goals for new and existing buildings.

Alternative transportation fuels:

Obama backs federal ethanol mandates and seeks greater federal support for making ethanol from nonfood crops.
He supports development of coal-to-oil technologies, although he now says that all new fuels should have to meet a national low-carbon standard.

Source: "Obama on Energy and the Environment," in "Where They Stand," National Journal, August 30, 2008.

For text:

http://www.nationaljournal.com/njmagazine/nj_20080830_3632.php

Surviving the Panic

We're happy to report that the world didn't end yesterday, though sometimes it was hard to tell. A major Wall Street banking house filed for bankruptcy, the taxpayers didn't come to the rescue, and financial markets lurched but didn't crash. Amid the current panic, this is a salutary lesson that our fate is in our own hands and that a deeper downturn is far from inevitable.

The immediate priority is to calm markets and prevent a crash, and to do so it helps to recall how we got here. We are not living through some "crisis of capitalism," unless policy blunders make it so. Nor is this largely the fault of the Bush Administration, as Barack Obama claims, or of some lack of regulation, as John McCain asserts. These politically convenient riffs do nothing to reassure the public.

The current panic is the ugly aftermath of the credit mania that took flight in the middle years of this decade. As students of economic historian Charles Kindleberger know ("Panics, Manias, and Crashes"), financial manias throughout history have shared one trait: the excessive expansion of credit. This bubble was no different...

[Recommended > ]

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The Real Culprits In This Meltdown

... Tough new regulations forced lenders into high-risk areas where they had no choice but to lower lending standards to make the loans that sound business practices had previously guarded against making. It was either that or face stiff government penalties.

The untold story in this whole national crisis is that President Clinton put on steroids the Community Redevelopment Act, a well-intended Carter-era law designed to encourage minority homeownership. And in so doing, he helped create the market for the risky subprime loans that he and Democrats now decry as not only greedy but "predatory.

While government arguably has a role in helping low-income folks buy a home, Clinton went overboard by strong-arming lenders with tougher and tougher regulations, which only led to lenders taking on hundreds of billions in subprime bilge.

Market failure? Hardly. Once again, this crisis has government's fingerprints all over it.

[until that time lenders, in typical actuarial fashion, ran the numbers and learned that some neighborhoods simply were to high a risk of not being paid back - and so were 'red lined' to exclude from loans.

A 'disproportionate' number of the neighborhoods were predominantly black. Naturally, 'redlining' was deemed racists, and the rules loosened to have Fannie (predominantly) buy such loans.

Yes there's more to it - but that was the first domino that fell into the others: government interference]

The solution? More government?]

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A manufactured crisis

Had some of these individuals attempted to get a mortgage in say, 1993, they would have been turned down flat. The difference is that Bill Clinton became President of the United States in January of 1993 and upon taking office wondered out loud why so many poor people and visible minorities didn’t own their home and what could be done to change this situation.

Naturally, the good people at Treasury and Justice didn’t want to disappoint the new president, so they put the word out to financial institutions that the U.S. Government would really like to see more low income and visible minorities achieve the American Dream of homeownership. That many individuals among these visible minorities were financially unqualified didn’t appear to matter either to the government of the day or to the bankers who advanced the cash. [they didn't advance cash: the sold the mortgage to Fannie - and the taxpayer assumed the (normally prohibitively high) risk.]

The second part of the crisis is due to good old American ingenuity, as those bankers who were urged by their government to lend money to anyone and everyone saw an opportunity to take these so-called sub-prime loans and package them into investment vehicles...

[as I said, more than one domino - but the one that started it all?]

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[btw:] "The current “correction” that both the real estate and the financial markets are undergoing will be relatively short lived, as the basic U.S. economy is sound. It’s not like Americans have lost their capacity to produce."

Pelosi: Dems bear no responsibility for economic crisis

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, when asked Tuesday whether Democrats bear some of the responsibility regarding the current crisis on Wall Street, had a one-word answer: ''No.'' Pelosi (D-Calif.) ripped President Bush’s ''mismanagement'' of the economy and a lack of regulation that led to the current situation.
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No-Energy Nancy’s Phony Energy Plan

Our friends at the Institute for Energy Research (IER) posted a devastating exposé of the Pelosi plan. As announced last week, the plan would:

• Permanently ban access to about 97 percent of the undersea oil lying within 50 miles of the California coast.
• Continue the ban on energy production in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico.
• Impose a brand-new ban on oil and gas leases in Alaska’s coastal waters out to 50 miles.
• Not allow states that approve new leases beyond 50 miles to share royalties with the federal government, thus stripping any financial incentive for states to stand up to environmental pressure groups, who will continue to agitate against any new oil and gas operations offshore.

The plan also includes poison pill provisions that President Bush is on record as opposing, such as new taxes on oil companies and a first-ever nationwide renewable-energy production quota for the electric power sector.

Nothing puts Pelosi’s charade in clearer focus, though, than IER’s charts showing how much oil the plan would lock up off the U.S. West coast.


By banning new leases out to 50 miles, the Pelosi plan would permanently deny access to 100 percent of the technically recoverable oil off the coasts of Washington, Oregon, Northern California, and Central California, plus 95 percent of the oil off the coast of Southern California.

Pro-drilling lawmakers on the Hill would be well advised to wave these charts in front of the television cameras as often as possible.

[I.e., all blue stuff (and red stuff), permanently off-limits - nothing states could do even if they wanted to {Fed. law trumps State desires}.

I.e., it's sabotage to our nation, plain and simple. It will be very interesting to see how the old media portrays this subversive bill...]

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Records show McCain more bipartisan

ANALYSIS: Sen. John McCain's record of working with Democrats easily outstrips Sen. Barack Obama's efforts with Republicans, according to an analysis by The Washington Times of their legislative records.

Whether looking at bills they have led on or bills they have signed onto, Mr. McCain has reached across the aisle far more frequently and with more members than Mr. Obama since the latter came to the Senate in 2005.

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Obama's missing years

Now that we've had full field MRIs of Palin, her family and their pets, perhaps the media could focus on the many missing aspects of Obama's bio.

Tom Maguire noted that we know virtually nothing about his time in NYC when he was attending Columbia (where no classmates seem to remember him and we have no transcripts or other records of his attendance there). Dan Riehl notes why we should be especially concerning about those missing years.

By 1980 at Occidental Obama ran partly with a circle of wealthy, drug using Pakistani friends. He traveled to Pakistan between Occidental and Columbia in 1981. That was during the Second Military Era (1977-1988) - Pakistan was under Sharia Law and not the most welcoming to foreign visitors, especially without some graft or connections. Based upon documented accounts, Obama seems to have also travelled the country-side, not just in the cities...

For a college kid out of California via Hawaii who ends up in a NYC slum via Pakistan partying with admitted drug users - using well beyond what Obama has ever admitted to, especially given the particular era, that Pakistan voyage is one very curious trip no matter how you slice it. And I don't mean for any possible Muslim/terror related reasons...

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Palin and the 'Experience' Canard

When Coolidge was named to Warren Harding's ticket in 1920, he had been governor of Massachusetts for less than two years. His chief previous government experience was as mayor of Northampton, to which he was first elected in 1910 by a Wasilla-like margin of 1,597 to 1,409.

Another year-and-a-half governor to be nominated for the vice presidency: Teddy Roosevelt. It's true that TR, as a former assistant secretary of the Navy, though one wonders what today we would make of a candidate whose proud boast was that he had killed an enemy soldier "like a jackrabbit."

Then there is Harry Truman.

"He had only to open his mouth and his origins were plain,"

wrote David McCullough in his biography of the 33rd president, in lines that might also have been written about Mrs. Palin.

"It wasn't just that he came from a particular part of the country, geographically, but from a specific part of the American experience, an authentic pioneer background, and a specific place in the American imagination."

The Truman comparison seems especially to rankle Mrs. Palin's critics, perhaps because in many respects it rings true. Take vetting. John McCain may have met Mrs. Palin only once before he offered her the job, but Franklin Roosevelt admitted "I hardly know Truman" in July 1944, the same month the "Senator from Pendergast" was put on the Democratic ticket. [snip]

But as a man who knows whereof he speaks recently observed;

"You can argue that nobody is ready to be president. You can argue that even if you've been vice president for eight years, that no one can be fully ready for the pressures of the office."

Wise words, and historically true. If Bill Clinton can offer such a benediction to an inexperienced candidate, surely Mrs. Palin's critics can do so as well...

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'VEEP' PALIN'S 'SPECIAL' DUTY

WASHINGTON - Sarah Palin yesterday offered the first hints of the role she would fill in a McCain administration, saying she intends take on the country's energy needs, reform government and promote care for special-needs children.

"My mission is going to be energy security and government reform. And another thing near and dear to my heart, it's going to be helping families who have special needs and children with special needs,"

[Deal.]

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Yesterday -- after 19 months commanding American troops in Iraq -- command of U.S. forces passed from General David Petraeus to General Ray Odierno.

This nation owes General Petraeus our gratitude. As the person responsible for directing the "surge," he understood, when others doubted, that victory in Iraq was possible.

General Petraeus, and those under his command, have taken the fight to Al-Qaeda in Iraq and have them on the run. The achievements of our military in Iraq are unparalleled in the history of counterinsurgency warfare and will be studied and written about for generations.

I thought you would appreciate this farewell letter from General Petraeus to the troops. His words are worth our time.
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Why Is Media Ignoring Accusations Obama Interfered With Iraq Withdrawal Negotiations?

While the media use all their resources to hunt fake scandals on Sarah Palin, there are some serious developments that America needs to know about.

The accusation from the Iraqi Foreign Ministry is that Barack Obama attempted to undermine troop withdrawal negotiations when he made his publicity trip to Iraq. For some reason, we have heard very little reporting on this from the media, even after Obama practically admitted to this.

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[FLASHBACK: NNBrief 9/16/08 = OBAMA TRIED TO STALL IRAQ WITHDRAWAL ]
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Countering the Drift

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President Ahmadinejad of Iran, who plans to come to New York City for the opening session of the United Nations General Assembly from September 18 to 21. Yet the seventh anniversary of the September 11 attack on this city showed that many are content to forget the horror of that day and are intent on replacing the majestic twin towers with two gigantic, flower-strewn potholes. [snip]

Not long ago there was an anti-war rally in Times Square protesting a possible war with Iran. I asked my Persian dissident friend, who knows more about what's happening in that country than any newspaper pundit, what he thought about this. He told me that the Iranian mullahs have lobbyists here in the United States that organize such gatherings to sway public opinion. [snip]

We need to improve our communication here as well because many regard the truth as "scare tactics." The Democrats charged that the Republican convention exploited September 11 by showing graphic footage of the attacks. Wrong. We've grieved for seven years, and now it's time to focus on making sure it never happens again.

Next month when that Free Iran flag flies over Ground Zero, let's add one that reads: "Rebuild the Towers Now."

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State budget relies on sham revenue

California

Remember those Democrats who promised to end years of deficit borrowing and bookkeeping trickery with a straightforward budget that raised taxes to cover obligations? Never mind. They embraced a get-out-of-town scheme that's the antithesis of common sense budgeting, and hid most of the details until the last minute.

Remember those Republicans who made noise about not raising taxes, even temporarily, because they would damage an already declining economy? They opted for siphoning billions of extra dollars out of Californians' paychecks through "accelerated withholding" – money we won't get back until our tax refunds of 2010.

Remember Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who vowed never to sign a budget unless it had "reforms" to end the cycle of deficits and debts? The budget that's headed his way not only does virtually nothing to preclude future deficits, but probably would make them worse.

If Californians needed even more evidence that their state government is completely and irrevocably dysfunctional, those they elected to high state office provided it with easily the worst budget in memory [snip]

"This year's budget deadlock shows better than perhaps any other recent event that our state needs a constitutional convention to fix a governance system that is hopelessly broken,"

said the council's president, Jim Wunderman.

"The defining feature of this budget is that it only makes next year's budget worse, and 'next year' is only nine months away.."

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A New Low in PDS: Palin Not Tough Enough on Rape?

The latest symptom of Palin Derangement Syndrome may be painting the female governor as an enemy of women, and it's not just vis-a-vis the typical pro-choice talking points.

In his September 15 article, ABCNews.com's Justin Rood looks at how "Critics Question Palin's Record on 'Epidemic' Rape, Domestic Violence in Alaska.":

"Evangelicals and social conservatives have embraced McCain's vice presidential pick for what they call her "pro-family," "pro-woman" values. But in Alaska, critics say Gov. Sarah Palin has not addressed the rampant sexual abuse, rape, domestic violence and murder that make her state one of the most dangerous places in the country for women and children."

The evidence Rood found for Palin being oblivious to or apathetic towards sexual violence and domestic abuse?

She didn't spend enough tax money on the problem: ...

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The real barracuda

HERE is a titbit for you. I am sure you all heard the quip vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin made before the assembled multitudes at the Republican convention in Minnysooda last week. "You know the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull?" she asked. Then she did a nice take, paused, pointed to her mouth without changing expression: "Lipstick."

Biggest laugh of the night.

The titbit? That line was not in her speech. She stuck it in there when mentioning her start in politics as a hockey mom joining the parent-teacher association. In fact she went off book so much, and so far, that the teleprompter operator went half mad trying to find out where he had messed up. Finally, just before taking his cyanide capsule, he realised his text and her speech had the similarity of Saturn and a lawn chair, so I hear he just turned it off...

[her debate with Biden is Oct. 2nd]

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Chavez slams critics for downplaying alleged plot

CARACAS, Venezuela — President Hugo Chavez reprimanded skeptics on Sunday for questioning his warnings that Washington is out to kill him — an accusation that Venezuela's opposition dismisses as a ploy to distract attention from domestic problems such as rampant violent crime and corruption.

(Snip) "Those who talk about it try to ridicule the allegation. (Snip) "Some say it's a farce." "They don't care about my death," ...

[is that a multiple-choice question?]

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How Washington Failed to Rein In Fannie, Freddie

As policymakers now set out to decide what role government, and the two companies, should play in the mortgage business, the failures of the past two decades offer a cautionary tale.

Blessed with the advantages of a government agency and a private company at the same time, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac used their windfall profits to co-opt the politicians who were supposed to control them. The companies fought successfully against increased regulation by cultivating their friends and hounding their enemies. [snip]

But most of all, the companies were protected by the belief widespread in Washington -- and aggressively promoted by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- that their success was inseparable from the expansion of homeownership in America...

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Obama blames Wall St. crisis on Republican policy

Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama said Monday the upheaval on Wall Street was "the most serious financial crisis since the Great Depression" and blamed it on policies that he said Republican rival John McCain supports.

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Whoops!

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac survived scrutiny by manipulating, cajoling, and lobbying politicians and hiring board members who were politicos (e.g. Jamie Gorelick) rather than mortgage gurus.

(Snip) Of the 354 lawmakers who received money from Freddie and Fannie between 1989 and 2008, Sen. Chris Dodd received the most. But next was . . . drumroll . . . Barack Obama.

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[NOTE: see today's 'EXTRA!' at end of post for a comparison of the candidate's economic policies]

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Gibson Advanced Obama 'Dishonesty'

Speaking of ''dishonesty'' in McCain's TV ads, on Fox News Sunday Brit Hume pointed out Barack

“Obama goes around claiming he's going to cut the taxes of 95 percent of the public, which is literally impossible” since ''40 percent of American taxpayers don't pay any income tax,''

but that hasn't stopped ABC (directly) and CBS (implicitly) in recent days from advancing that Obama claim as fact...

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Straight From the Sources’ Mouths

To hear Obama supporters tell it, the media has been so delinquent in its duty to scrutinize the McCain campaign of late that the whole election should probably be protested in advance.

Funny, then, that Barack Obama has managed to create his new attack ad entirely out of quotes from press sources recently slamming McCain. Over a picture of the Republican nominee, we see quotes from Time, the Chicago Sun Times, the Washington Post, CBS News, and the New Republic attesting to the “truly vile” nature of McCain’s campaign.

Note that nothing in the ad explains to the viewer what there is about McCain’s bid for president that constitutes “a disgraceful, dishonorable campaign”; we are just told that it is such. The media is so thoroughly in the tank for Obama that he’s now able to hide exclusively behind their work...

[both camps are pulling their fair share of shenanigans - the difference is that McCain can't run a like ad because the media simply doesn't report on Obama's weaknesses (perceived and real) as it does the Republicans]

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Why Feminists Hate Sarah Palin

Left-wing feminists have a hard time dealing with strong, successful conservative women in politics such as Margaret Thatcher. Sarah Palin seems to have truly unhinged more than a few, eliciting a stream of vicious, often misogynist invective.

On Salon.com last week, Cintra Wilson branded her a "Christian Stepford Wife" and a "Republican blow-up doll." Wendy Doniger, religion professor at the University of Chicago Divinity School, added on the Washington Post blog, "Her greatest hypocrisy is in her pretense that she is a woman." [snip]

I disagree with Sarah Palin on a number of issues, including abortion rights. But when the feminist establishment treats not only pro-life feminism but small-government, individualist feminism as heresy, it writes off multitudes of women.

Of course, being a feminist role model is not part of the vice president's job description. And yet, like millions of American women -- and men -- I find her can-do feminism infinitely more liberated than the what-can-the-government-do-for-me brand espoused by the sisterhood.

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Salute for soldier who saved Iraq with brains and brawn

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During the darkest days of his command, General David Petraeus, the US military commander in Iraq, would ponder the words of Ulysses S Grant.

The Union Army general who won the American Civil War was approached by a fellow officer after the disastrous battle of Shiloh and told: ''Well, we had a tough day, today.''

Grant, chewing on his ubiquitous cigar replied: ''Yup. Lick 'em tomorrow, though.''

[Recommended > ]
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OBAMA TRIED TO STALL IRAQ WITHDRAWAL

WHILE campaigning in public for a speedy withdrawal of US troops from Iraq, Sen. Barack Obama has tried in private to persuade Iraqi leaders to delay an agreement on a draw-down of the American military presence.

According to Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, Obama made his demand for delay a key theme of his discussions with Iraqi leaders in Baghdad in July.

"He asked why we were not prepared to delay an agreement until after the US elections and the formation of a new administration in Washington,"

Though Obama claims the US presence is "illegal," he suddenly remembered that Americans troops were in Iraq within the legal framework of a UN mandate. His advice was that, rather than reach an accord with the "weakened Bush administration," Iraq should seek an extension of the UN mandate.

[party before country]

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Iran renews nuclear weapons development

Nuclear experts responsible for monitoring Iran's nuclear programme have discovered that enough enriched uranium, which if processed to weapons grade level could be used to make up to six atom bombs, has disappeared from the main production facility at Isfahan.

American spy satellites have identified a number of suspicious sites, which the Iranians have not declared to nuclear inspectors, that intelligence officials believe are being used for covert research...

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Russia Aligns with Syria, Iran against the West

Moscow announced the Syrian port of Tartus would be renovated to provide Russia with its first Mediterranean naval base.

As the two naval chiefs talked in Moscow, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov met Iranian foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki in the Russian capital for talks on the completion of the Bushehr nuclear power plant by the end of the year.

Sources interpret Friday’s events as indicating that Russia’s leaders have determined to open a second anti-Western front in the Middle East...

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Blowback in Russia

Russia has a problem. Moscow’s recognition of Georgia’s breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia a few weeks ago has already encouraged some of its own disgruntled minorities to push harder for independence from the Russian Federation. Russia’s semi-autonomous republics of Ingushetia and Tatarstan have both ratcheted up their demands to secede.

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Antarctic sea ice increasing

The amount of sea ice around Antarctica has grown in recent Septembers. In the southern hemisphere winter, when emperor penguins huddle together against the biting cold, ice on the sea around Antarctica has been increasing since the late 1970s...

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Aspen-DNC carbon partnership sputters

Results of a program using Aspen’s Canary Initiative to sell carbon offset credits to Democratic National Convention attendees are a little underwhelming. The program, set up by the DNC Host Committee through the Denver Convention and Visitors Bureau and rolled out about a week before the convention started, raised a total of $18.34 worth of Canary Tags.

[but it would be good for us...]

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Obstacles stunt Calif. offshore drilling

The Bush administration and oil companies say they want to open up the nation's coastal areas to new drilling, but in two cases - involving some of California's most promising oil fields - they are doing little to make that happen.

The U.S. Air Force is standing in the way of a project to tap into fields containing as much as 300 million barrels of crude - the biggest new oil find in California in 40 years - despite strenuous attempts to accommodate the military's concerns by oil companies seeking access to the offshore fields using a 25-acre parcel of land on Vandenberg Air Force Base.

"It's just mind-boggling. We have tried everything under the sun" to get the Air Force to approve the Vandenberg drilling project, said Bob Nunn, president of Sunset Exploration, a small California oil company that teamed up with Exxon Mobil to propose the innovative drilling plan.

"We are stopped at every turn." [snip]

Meanwhile, the major oil companies - including Exxon Mobil and Shell - have abandoned hopes of tapping into an even larger treasure trove of oil fields off the central California coast that could yield 200,000 barrels a day. Unmoved by this year's major shift in public opinion in favor of drilling, even in environmentally conscious California, they are demanding reimbursement of the more than $1 billion that they paid the federal government to lease the fields decades ago.

"We want our money back, clear and simple," said Edward Bruce, a Covington & Burling lawyer representing the oil companies in a long-running case against the Interior Department over the leases. "You need a tremendous change in the law" to consider drilling there again.

A federal appeals court upheld the oil companies' claim late last month.

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Illegal Immigrants' arrests anger S.F. supervisors

SAN FRANCISCO -- Two San Francisco supervisors expressed outrage Saturday at federal officers' handling of six illegal immigration arrests this past week at a Visitacion Valley residence.

A spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said authorities went to the home seeking three adults who were considered to be fugitives after being ordered deported by a federal judge.

When officers arrived, they found three other adults who are undocumented and living in the country illegally and arrested them as well, Kice said. The girl has an application to stay in the country legally and so she was not apprehended, Kice said.

Supervisor Sophie Maxwell, whose district includes Visitacion Valley, said City Hall aides told her the 15-year-old girl was left by herself after federal officers took all the adults from the residence, a claim Kice strongly denied.

"We're still investigating," Maxwell said, "but as far as I know, the child was left. That's my concern."

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UPPER W. (BANK) SIDE

SOME students think of one ritzy Manhat tan private school as Jihad Prep. It's where the Gaza Strip meets the Upper West Side, bisecting a classroom at exclusive York Prep - where some 340 students, grades six through 12, pay annual tuition up to a staggering $32,100.

Students also are asked to define "Bedouin, caravan, Mecca, Ka'aba, Koraish, revelation, Koran, Allah and Islam. There will be a brief quiz."

One boy grew upset when he heard the teacher say the Koran was the "word of God." Schlesinger, however, insisted to me that those words don't reflect her personal beliefs. "Muslims believe it," she told me.

But the course does not include the study of other religions, such as Christianity and Judaism. Nor does it contain the Old and New Testaments.

"I'm teaching that we should all get along," Schlesinger said. "History is about trying to understand and live in the world,"

I thought history was about learning the facts. Silly me.

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F.A.S.H.I.S.T!

I just got an email from our new Provost telling me that I – like everyone else working at the university – must start attending mandatory sexual harassment awareness training sessions every two years. The good news is that I’m going. The bad news is that I’ve gotten some other angry men together to help me completely disrupt the training sessions.

On October 20th, there will be a meeting of a new campus group called “Faculty Against Sexual Harassment Initiatives and Sensitivity Training” - or FASHIST. I’m the founder of the new group. And the reason I’ve chosen the name FASHIST is twofold:

1. Our university is moving rapidly in the direction of fascism and we need to turn things around as quickly as possible, and

2. We need to go ahead and call ourselves FASCIST because that’s what the feminists – who don’t actually know what fascism is - will call us when we try to oppose a government-mandated thought control program...

[not completely comical: here in the land of fruits and nuts (CA), the state literally tries to hold people accountable not for what they say, or what they mean, but how others - could - chose to interpret your words. Insane - hence the botanical reference.]

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9/11 COWARDICE: SIMPLE AS ABC

THE suits at Disney-owned ABC are too chicken to re-air or release on DVD their $40 million docudrama that accused Bill Clinton of squandering many chances to capture Osama bin Laden before the Twin Towers attacks.

"Disney caved and committed perhaps the most blatant, underreported and significant act of censorship in modern American history,"

says Ziegler.

"What Disney actually did here was to take a dive on their own movie . . . They preferred the scenario of unilateral disarmament, not to mention throwing away $40 million, to rebutting and embarrassing the Clintons."

he adds,

"it's disgracing the memories of those who died on 9/11 and setting ourselves up for making the same mistakes again."

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Voting Greene - Criminal politics.

Almost everyone expects that this year’s elections will be close, but few realize that the margin of victory could be affected by fraudulently cast absentee ballots. With increasing numbers of voters casting ballots by mail, the threat of fraud is real and growing. It’s important that voters understand the risk and why this problem has gone under the radar for so long. The short answer: Blame crooked candidates aided and abetted by left-wing civil-rights groups that have lost their way.

According to some “civil-rights” groups, practically every effort to legislate against or prosecute voter fraud is intended to keep minorities and the poor from voting at all. Indeed, they argue that racism and intimidation are the sole motivation for voter-fraud prosecutions and dismiss voter fraud as virtually nonexistent. As a result, many prosecutors ignore serious evidence of vote fraud for fear of the political consequences, and elections continue to be stolen.

Greene County shows that these groups have it backwards. Voter-fraud prosecutions do not intimidate voters — turnout increased in the county after the successful prosecutions. What does intimidate voters is the knowledge that voter fraud is routine and goes unpunished...

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ChiTrib Debunks Media's 'McCain Will Die Soon' Anti-Palin Attack

Folks in the media are either ignorant of how mortality is calculated, or intentionally trying to scare the electorate.

As such, the Tribune is spot on, for according to the Social Security Administration, a man aged 72 is currently expected to live to 84.

Yet, in McCain's case, this could be understated, for white male life expectancy is about six years greater than for blacks.

Beyond this, SSA doesn't account for differing lifestyles, wealth, health care history, diet, exercise, etc. Instead, its life expectancy is a one size fits all for each gender.

With this in mind, the media scare tactic that Palin is likely to become president as a result of McCain's untimely death is even more factually inaccurate.

Kudos to the Tribune for expressing some honesty in this regard.

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Biden tells disabled politician to 'stand up' Bungling Joe Biden could wreck Barak Obama’s chances of victory in November’s presidential election, senior Democrats feared last night. (Snip) Just a day after musing that Mrs Clinton ‘might have been a better pick than me’, Mr Biden left an audience cringing in Columbia, Missouri, when he urged a paraplegic state official to stand up and be recognised.

‘Chuck, stand up, let the people see you,’ he shouted to State Senator Chuck Graham...

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Policy Positions Re: ECONOMIC PLANS

OBAMA ON THE ECONOMY

Bush tax cuts:

• Obama wants to make permanent the 2001 and 2003 income-tax cuts for about 94 percent of tax filers -- those making less than $200,000 a year.
• He will either repeal the Bush cuts for the top one percent of taxpayers, or allow the cuts for those taxpayers to expire in 2010.
• He will let the tax cuts on income from capital gains and dividends expire in 2010 -- raising the rate from 15 percent to 28 percent.
• He will restore most of Bush's temporary estate tax cut to a 45 percent rate for estates valued at $3.5 million or more.

New tax cuts:

• Obama would grant a yearly tax credit of $500 for individuals and $1,000 for married couples that would apply to all workers who pay Social Security.
• Also, those 65 and older earning less than $50,000 a year would be exempt from income tax.
• The price tag: $280 million over 10 years.

The budget:

• Obama has rhetorically committed to "pay-as-you-go."
• Some revenue -- but not much in the short term -- would come from a proposed 2 percent to 4 percent surcharge on high earners to reduce Social Security's projected shortfall after 2017.

Housing and credit crisis:

• Obama would empower the Federal Reserve to regulate investment banks and any other institutions to which it lends.
• His 2007 bill would expand federal regulation of mortgage lending and toughen criminal penalties for fraud.
• Proposes a $10 billion fund to help homeowners avoid foreclosure and $10 billion to help state and local governments.

Source: "Obama on the Economy," in "Where They Stand," National Journal, August 30, 2008.

For text:

http://www.nationaljournal.com/njmagazine/nj_20080830_3632.php


MCCAIN ON THE ECONOMY


Bush tax cuts:

• McCain plans to make permanent the 2001 and 2003 income-tax cuts that expire at the end of 2010, including those that set the tax rate for most dividend and capital-gains income at 15 percent.
• He would preserve most of Bush's temporary cut in estate taxes, establishing a 15 percent rate for estates worth $10 million or more.

New tax cuts:

• McCain has pledged to eliminate the alternative minimum tax.
• He wants to double the personal exemption for dependents from $3,500 to $7,000, a move that benefits larger families.
• He wants to cut the corporate income-tax rate from 35 percent to 25 percent.

The budget:

• McCain has committed to a "pay-as-you-go" approach to budgeting, but has not explained how his tax cuts would be financed.
• McCain contends that hundreds of million of dollars can be saved each year by eliminating "waste, fraud, and abuse," but he has not provided examples.
• McCain's tax cuts would cost as much as $400 billion a year, or about 40 percent of all discretionary spending.

Housing and credit crisis:

• McCain supports a larger, but unspecified, role for the Federal Reserve in regulating financial institutions but encourages -- rather than requires -- larger capital reserves by banks.
• Opposes large increases in government spending to help renegotiate existing mortgages, and proposes programs that would exclude people who borrow too much to buy their homes or are currently unlikely to meet the terms of a new mortgage.

Source: "McCain on the Economy," in "Where They Stand," National Journal, August 30, 2008.

For text:

http://www.nationaljournal.com/njmagazine/nj_20080830_3632.php
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