The trolls of Wall Street like naked short selling because it is lucrative. Verrry lucrative. They rake in the dough while hammering some poor company. It’s just another part of our current Hurricane Wall Street. Forget Katrina and Ike and Wilma. This is The Big One. Like the Masters of the Universe say, “Greed is Good!” And they have the current administration and Henry Paulson to bail them out if their house of cards starts to tilt. Seems to be working. Except for the rest of us. And our kids. And grandkids. And. And. And!

This reads like a Republican campaign ad. She didn’t lose custody. She still shares custody. Everything remains the same, for the sake of the stability of her son. She simply failed to get a change of the original court order. WOWOWOW Staff, we expect better from you. Is this to become a tabloid site? I mean, get real! It’s not like this is a slow news week!

Yes, Folks. I just caught Letterman. Me thinks Dave just waved bye bye to an invitation to Arizona for a few rounds of golf. Thanks Dave. Our feelings exactly.

Yeah! Go get ‘em. Let the country see what kind of economic round table a mere “community organizer” can organize. Invite economics and constitutional law gurus. Historians. Invite Paulson. No congressmen or senators. Take questions from the audience. No politics, just questions and answers on this particular national crisis. Or just history, questions and suggestions and possible answers. The stage is reserved and the media should be on their way already. The timeslot has been assigned . Hmmmm. Another Mississippi march, a generation later.

Sorry! I should edit more. I meant to say “on the day BEFORE you want to stand up …etc.” Am watching the current occupant right now. Maybe Barack didn’t get the occupant’s faxed invitation, out on the campaign trail and all.

Dang me! George Will beat me to the punch! My first thought on McCain’s actions today was that I was watching The White Rabbit from (the aforementioned) Alice In Wonderland. “I’m Late. I’m Late. For a Very important Date!” No time to say hello, goodbye. I’m late I’m late. I’m late… . Standing up David Letterman, leaving Sarah to use the D-word. Zooming off to Washington… TO DO WHAT? Scream at someone? WHY? Cuz Karl told ya to? WHEN? On the day you want to stand up the entire country in a debate? Political campaigns are Hell, John. Didja bring any marshmallows?

After Paulson’s round of the Sunday morning political panels, playing his Chicken Little “The Sky Is Falling” script, totally avoiding a straight answer on most inquiries, I have been trying to figure out what the 700000000000 (only the initial investment, by the way) was going to buy, that was going to “save our way of life”. By Monday night, the size of the bail-out was not sounding so outrageous. I got used to hearing it. We have to save our way of life. But how? Then it came to me. Lemons. We (you and I) are buying 700000000000 lemons. Bad paper that isn’t worth what it’s printed on. Bad! Not good investments - the schmucks who did this in the first place have those in their personal portfolios. This whole debacle smells of week-old fish. The dealings of these executives has been amoral, bordering on immoral for over a decade, all in the name of $$$$$$$$$. Their $$$$$$$$. I want to see heads roll. I want to see contrition. Apologies. Acceptance of responsibility. Anything. Instead, all I see are plans to provide extra time for the owners of foreclosed homes to move out, if they pay market-rate rent. I’m tired of hearing that the executives of these firms are too important to penalize. That each has only taken away “a few million” like it’s chump change. Let them suck on their own lemons! In the very long lines at the food banks.

And thanks for the chuckle, Ms Dee. Yes, all too true. In addition to her history of listening! A tutor who uses subjunctive clauses, in addition to participial phrases, may not be able to dumb it down enough for success in this case. Maybe someone from Conjunction Junction, AK will step up. That’s a little town down the road from Wasilla, past the two dead lakes and the Walmart.

Yeah, Carol. I, too, planned for my retirement. Now I qualify for Social Security, but am looking for sustainable employment to last at least another 15 years. I have to live that long for my supposedly safe retirement accounts to recover from the current Wall Street debacle. The Wall Street Wizards have done us in. And the financial chemotherapy is going to be long and arduous. I’m used to arduous, but don’t know how much “long” I have left in me. I’d write more, but I have to go scope out the parking lots of Walmart, Target and Costco. I’m again planning ahead … to find the best cart available as my next home. There’s a good chance the above named wizards will join the surge of people to the Climate Change Camp … selling mortgages on little slivers of icebergs to senior citizens. Crack! Oops! G’bye, Grannie!!!! Hey, it’s a plan, right?

” I Can’t Find A WOWOWOW News Story On This (Department)” Can someone enlighten me on what legislation removed the Office of the Vice President from the Executive branch of our government? I must have fallen into that danged recurrent coma again.

Sibelle: Uhhhhh, we don’t Know that. We know that he has been involved with the diplomatic policy of the Oval Office Occupants since before Nixon. We know he is a leading historian of successful (and doomed) foreign policy for over a half a century. We know he is an intelligent expert on the world stage. In short, he is the heaviest of hitters. And he supports the Republican Party. We don’t know his personal assessment of McCain or Sarah. Palin, because of or despite her beliefs, background, experience in government, looks and legs, and IQ, is supposedly qualified for the office of Vice President of the United States of America. Because Karl Rove has decreed it so. No more, no less. If there’s a weak link in any of the above, she has been tutored constantly by graduate level Rovians since a week before the RNC. She is allowed to be seen, but not spoken to. It alarms me that this schooling seems not to have helped. Since she hasn’t spoken, I can only assume she Can’t speak. The necessity of having to call in Henry Kissinger to babysit for her during her “public” appearance (while she engages in smalltalk with world leaders) seems like a gynormous case of scarily necessary overkill. If Sarah just had a “small” problem, it should be able to be corrected by Miss Manners or merely someone with a PhD in International Studies …and not need the intervention of Henry Kissinger. Perhaps he’s as terrified as we are. Thanks for trying, Henry!

First Palin; now Paulson. It’s been a bad month all around. It looks like each of us (Americans) will be sending $2300 - $5000 to Washington to make sure that the large Wall Street firms (and people) remain in place. There is a tiny rumor that a few of the executives of these firms may or may not receive all of their Golden Parachutes, bonuses, and salaries. The Republicans are fighting for the status quo, and resisting any suggestion of “criminalization” or finding fault. I guess it “just happened”. The Democrats are not reacting well to the proposed bill stipulating (insisting upon) NO oversight of the Secretary’s decisions and expenditures of the requested 700000000000. Sound economic policy? Well, it seems to look like that from the Top, at least. Now, We (the folks without parachutes, but with less and less to work with each month) are the owners of 700000000000 worth of bad debt. Hmmmm. I wonder if there’s a reason they call it “bad”. Nothing in all this deliberation, bill re-writing, hand wringing, yada yada is going to stop foreclosures on the houses of middle America. They’ll continue to increase. The dollar is going down even further. Gas is leaping highter. “It just happened.” Palin and McCain are vocal and specific about their views on sex education, abortion and regulation of investment firms. “No, no, and no!” The results seem to be the same, “It just happened.” Where do we report the rape?

Does anyone who still supports Sarah find it in the least shameful that Kissinger has had to morph into a living, breathing CliffsNotes in order for her to even put in an appearance, much less open her mouth, at the UN?

Liz Peek: The succinct and accurate answer to your initial question is: Yes.

Can you imagine world leaders communicating with the Leader of the Free World at Dubya @ yahoo dot com? didn’t think so.