Curious how we got to this economic point? Tired of every pundit on TV screaming and 'explaining' that the sky is falling without really giving you a real, in-depth explanation of how we as Americans just got bent over?

Then I urge everybody to listen to this amazing show from This American Life. Listen to it while you surf the net or put it on the mp3 player and give it a listen on your way to work. 

But beyond all else, listen to the last 7 minutes or so. Where we find out about something called 'stock infusion' and how that might be the best possible way out of this mess, and how Secretary Paulson is unlikely to do anything of the sort.

If you find this information helpful, please pass it along to people you know.

And if you think "There's got to be a better way out of this mess" then I urge you to drop your congressperson and senator a note, telling them what you think.

Are you serious? We’re actually even considering letting this administration “fix” something else before leaving office?

I posit George Bush has been akin to the anti-Forrest Gump. Whereas for loveable Forrest was a dimwit who blundered his way into unbelievable success, Bush is an unloveable dimwit who has blundered this nation into an abysmal morass of failure. 

So, before we go doling out 700 BILLION no-strings-attached dollars (that’s the equivalent of, oh, six more years in Iraq, in case you’re counting) to his henchmen, I hope you don’t mind that I have just a couple of simple questions:

1. After September 11, you said those responsible would pay. How’s that working out? I mean, minus the fact that you essentially let him go in Afghanistan so you could fight a totally unnecessary and ultimately counterproductive war in a completely different country.
2. How do you assign someone who despises the United Nations to be the ambassador to the United Nations?
3. You say we’re fighting evil doers but then set up hidden prisons to detain and torture people. I say this as a preface to asking: which Bible are you reading again?
4. Your “Clean Skies” program actually put more pollutants into the air. In college, did you major in Irony?
5. You authorized illegal wiretapping of American citizens. You broke the Constitution. You intentionally manipulated the will of Congress through ‘signing statements.’ Are you aware of the definition of ‘asshat’?

There’s more. Like, how can you fail at being the manager of the Texas Rangers and think you’re qualified for the office of President. I wouldn’t hire you as a shift manager at Denny’s. Why is it that everything you do is wrong and turns into a flaming shitball of failure? Are you cursed? Should I pity you? 

And now, now we’re going to have an American fire sale, squeeze the last bit of cash out of our coffers and into the pockets of your minions before you are gone. To think: I was done hating you because, really, after Iraq, how could you fuck up anything worse? It’s inconceivable. But by gosh golly, here we are. So, maybe that’s like a success? You win at failing?

To think if 260 people voted the other way in 2000 … 

I’m aghast.

Okay, I don't know why no one else seems to have noticed this but:

Is it just me, or is Sarah Palin basically just George Bush with a vagina?

Seriously, I'm having flashbacks to the 2000 campaign. All this psuedo-folksy, rural drawl bullshit that falls out of Palin's mouth is seemingly verbatim dim-wittedness from Bush. Apparently, people like that shit. Or, at least 51% of people, given our last two presidential elections. But, really, can this country take any more Bush/bush?

This is like shooting fish in a barrel. Except there are only 2 fish. But one of them is young and stupid and the other is old and stupid.

• 20 lies and flipflops told by the McCain campaign. Just the fact that a list like this can be made with a straight face and without having to reach to minor quotes and strange contexts is more than a little disturbing.
• Factcheck.org is pissed at yet another McCain ad. Keep em coming.
• Oh and now the Republicans are reallllllllly reaching: Feehery claimed attacks on Palin are "kind of attacking motherhood and apple pie and everything good about America" — yes, Palin has become Lady Liberty incarnate in 1 week and to speak about her qualifications as a candidate for VP now means you are a terrorist. Holy shit, I shouldn't have said that — come Monday morning, this will be the new party line.
• Consensus seems to be that Palin knows nothing of the world outside of Alaska. In fact, based on last night's interview, she doesn't even know McCain's stances on world issues. This is not good.
• And here is a good example of why we have to repair our standing with the world: less than half the world believes that al Qaeda was behind the 9/11 attacks. Yay for us so completely fucking up Iraq that now no one believes anything we say. (In fact, the runner-up was the "US government." The world loves Bush, clearly.)

Because now we see that eight years of dogmatic Republican insistence on "abstinence only" sex education really does work …

Wowzers. If you can't get the kids to drift off to sleep with classic fare like Goodnight Moon, scare the shit out of them with Goodnight Bush. Eeep!

If there's one thing worse than a bully, it's an ignorant bully. And, friends, that's what we've been dealing with for the last 7+ years. I think after the Dems blew the '04 race, I basically got a bunker mentality and have holed up, praying I'd wake up soon, or '08 would hurry up and get here.

Well, I think this is a good time for a little bit of perspective of what this administration has been doing, even to its own. Hurry up and head over to This American Life and give this program a listen soon, because it'll be coming down in the next day or so.

No, this isn't about the big shit. Not about the Iraq war, not about letting Osama escape, not about illegal spying on American citizens or torture in ghost prisons. It's about how stupid they/we have been in even the littlest things, how, in one case, we'll even fight for the right to shoot ourselves in the foot and pay more. Just to prove we're right, even when we're wrong. Being undeniably wrong but insisting you're right?

I. Hate. That. Shit.

Give it a listen. Discuss.