Welcome to your daily stock market crash

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wait...wait...

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No, damnit...

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DOWN DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE!

Speaking of the debates last night, nothing quite screams "ridiculous" like watching Sarah Palin debate foreign policy. She answers a question about advocating talking with our nation's enemies and somehow women's rights becomes a bullet point in some odd meandering rant that I think was about the republican ideals about blind patriotism. I mean even looking at just the obvious, Palin stumbles over the names of foreign heads of state while Biden is rolling them off his tongue like he's in a Doritos commercial.

The funny thing is in listening to the VP nominees describe their would be Presidents. With Biden it was kind of like a Sinatra movie kind of thing, some buddies hanging out, shotting craps, and talking about foreign policy. With Palin, it's like John McCain is a superhero. John McCain is God.

Well and of course she's looking programed to speak, she's had every republican lackey in her ear from Sioux Falls to Suit Saint Marie grilling her and feeding her information in a hotel room for hours on end for the last three weeks except for when she some coffee with Kissinger. Flash bulbs a-popin'. It was like she was being courted to the public as a celebrity. I understand Obama's world tour was a bit grandiose, but they're taking Palin around town like she's the Lindsey Lohan of the Republican Party. Last night at the debates was her attempt at impersonating who John McCain wants her to be. She's like his little pet project. She's like his cheerleader. It was like Hillary Clinton's soundbyte on the 18 million cracks in that glass ceiling. It's true, as much as I dislike Hillary Clinton's methods and pro-war policies, she was the first viable woman candidate for President. That's huge. It was a pivotal moment for the history of women in America. The irony comes in Palin, who shows America that a woman can be on the other side of the coin as well, but we notice her for all the wrong reasons. The country is falling apart and the GOP brings a beauty queen to the apocalypse. Classy. Somehow John McCain, by picking Palin, manages to use concrete in sealing in those cracks. He raised the roof, as it were.

This debate though, was actually less about Palin and more about Biden. He's been in Congress forever, so he knows the game well. When I heard the pick originally I was less than enthusiastic. It was like Obama was screaming, "CHANGE CHANGE CHANGE... with a little bit more of the same." So last night I wanted to see if Biden was likable in a public arena. Calling from the cackles of the senate floor is one thing, but on national television, in a debate being viewed worldwide is another thing entirely. So Joe did okay. He prattled on occasionally, but Biden had a good night. I look at him and I see a vice president. I can picture an America where Joe Biden is a vice president, and in theory, I like that America at the moment.

Palin was surprisingly likable. But she pushed trademarked issues, avoided questions completely, didn't give many clear answers, and the answers she did give sounded like they were rehearsed to death. As someone in a commentary remarked, "As a teacher, Gov. Palin's answers reminded me of one of the problems with No Child Left Behind. Some teachers will teach the answers to the test. It seems as though this was a test for her. She memorized answers, but it was for the wrong version of the standardized test. That did not seem to stop her from reciting the answers she memorized." She didn't burst into flames, but she REALLY didn't impress me. And I find her small town attitude positively grating. I grew up in Tower, MN. The population now is 479. It wasn't that many in 1979. I am a small town gal from the north. I still want to smack her. Do you think that it's going to go well when she rolls her eyes and gives them some anecdote from Alaska when she's meeting leaders of other countries? Also, could you say the word "also" one more time for me, Gov. Palin? (For those of you interested, she said ALSO 48 times.) And fact checkers are showing that she greatly exaggerated more times than Biden did.

Biden, I thought was good, though. I didn't necessarily agree with him on all of the things he said, but I felt that he was more informative and presented well. He did well with the facts. I didn't doubt his sincerity as much as I did Palin's, which seemed contrived. I think he'd make a fantastic president, truthfully. He was intelligent, kind and firm. He handled Palin well. He didn't even say anything when Palin called the commander of U.S. troops in Afghanistan as McClellan (instead of McKiernan) twice. Even if his teeth were blindingly white, I still really liked him. Not that it was a question before, but there is certainly no question now as to where my vote is.

ETA: I forgot to mention the health care issue. I thought Palin was deceiving (as many of her statements were, if you look them up). I was happy to hear Biden explain that, while you will be getting $5000, the average health care plan is going to cost $12000, thus leaving way more people uninsured. Palin made Obama's plan sound like universal health care, which it isn't. It's making sure that all children are covered and leaving adults the right to choose their plan. And I'm slightly annoyed that so many Republicans I've run into criticized the "Change" mantra of the Obama campaign, and now they are trying to market it for themselves!

-felix and i broke up.
-i get emotional texts from him constantly.
-my grandfather is dying.

We're nationalizing the finance system...

The federal government wants to take $700+ billion dollars and buy all of Wall Street's outstanding debt. It's as if we were shopping for a time share someplace warm and our government chose the ghetto. What a coincidence considering that the majority of the people now living in the ghetto most recently came from having a job on Wall Street.

When the bailout fell through yesterday the market dropped 777 points, which is also funny because in Christian 'mythology' "777" is also known as the number of divinity, It's symbolizes God and perfection in a nutshell. Where's Jerry Falwell when you need him? Jerry would have called that out in a second as God being completely unhappy with the immoral practices of America related to it's greed over money and power. I can only surmise from this that the rapture is indeed upon us, and the time is now to act before all those billion or so Christians blink out into their eternal wonderland with the almighty.

So remember: order your rapture cards today!