So long, Tim Russert. You are no longer conscious, gone from here and now to wherever and who knows. It will be left to others on the screens to report you’re passing, others parsing what it means and who you were, and how you'll be remembered - as if we weren't doing precisely that right now – and portentously forecasting what you’re absence means and further what it will mean to all of us.  

So?

There's been lots of earlier discussion on various choices. Here's another list to spark additional inspiration and writing on who, why, or why not.

Here's my English bookie  (no dog in fight?) - odds are # to one:

Last night, in a Snarktown bar I overheard,

"We'll see if the adults outnumber the childish power-loving Clintons. They've long since passed the marker that proved their need for adult supervision. I mean, Bill enabling Bush to con voters with his 'restore dignity,' and 'uniter, not a divider,' clap-trap. Willy? Slick? Not very. And Hill’ry? Please..."

Wars of unreason continue with increasing lethality, and some, led by Senator McCain suggest further escalation. And to what is this folly ascribed? Ideologies that require faith, faiths which are scientifically unproven – i.e., absent hypothesis, experiment, and documented reproducible outcome - yet, are maintained by over four of the six billion humans on Earth.

John McCain can claim to be a maverick, bipartisan, straight-talking, conservative, war-hero, but his record belies these as largely surface image, not facts completely comprising his character. This alone will be sufficient to defeat him in November.

Regarding Reverends Hagee & Parsley...

The economic and political imbalances of the past century (or so) are reverting. Supply-side economics, the 'trickle down theory,' has proven once again, as in the Gilded Age of robber baron monopolists, to be the conmen's diversion of attention away from their continuing enterprise, namely... 'siphon up.'

It seems the unraveling of the ability of the US to project influence and hegemony around the earth is already well under way.

Snipped from a report and thread about the loss of real estate industrial complex employment and the spreading repercussions throughout finance and the economy as a whole. Realtors Exiting the Business

>An Observer | 01.10.08 - 12:10 pm - "... all we seem to get are resumes from Indians here on work visas. What's going on?"

I got an email from Howard Dean crowing:

If Democrats continue to show up everywhere, run on our values, and offer clear solutions on the critical issues, the clear lesson of 2007 is that Democrats are well-positioned to win anywhere in 2008.

I sent the following and am curious if I'll get a response or be sluffed-off as some crank.

I'm not suggesting that if running all three branches the Dem's would wreak the horrible damage that recent Republicans have. But Bill Clinton's media consolodation give-away and Marc Rich pardon were only two of many sops thrown to the wealthy elites who benefit the most from policies engineered to transfer wealth and power from the rest of the planet to their cozy Wall Street-Washington clique.

No, they wouldn't do worse, but IMHO, they wouldn't do much better.

The Democratic congressional leadership whines about their inability to stop the Iraq war as if their inability to override the president's veto prevented them from doing so. Tragically or cynically, they seem to be the only ones who remain unaware of their Constitutionally given ability to refuse to bring war funding legislation to the floor.

While it's run up to the top of Amazon, I'll not be spending several slowly vanishing-in-value greenbacks to add to the sales of the former Fed Chairman's finger-pointing denial.

"Don't you care to know," some might ask, "The deepest thoughts of the longest serving central banker in America's history?"

Fortunately, Incompetence and Arrogance Slay No Dragons.

Rudy: Tough On Terror, Tough on Crime. Oh, yeah? Here are two bubbles easily exploded by clear, understandable facts...

... which is the cause of the larger crisis now looming.

The complexity of civilization - as population has grown geometrically - is in the process of overwhelming many human and natural life sustaining systems.

These systems have not been adequate to the tasks of bringing food, clothing, shelter and security to all the world's humans. They may be proven unsuccessful in driving the sustainability of the planet's other, interdependent, life forms, too.

In the end accountants have the last word on the guesses of economists’ and analysts’ and forecasters’. Once again confirming that price fixing frauds ultimately fail by overstating assets and income and understating costs and liabilities.

Financial collapses catch nearly everyone by surprise. The devastation they wreck is so rapid that they are always referred to in hindsight as Panics.

Poll result! 85% of 82 People Agree: "Catastrophic Collapse is possible or probable in my lifetime." 60% of these say "probable."

What is the most likely source of the wisdom and action that can pull us all together to pull us all through the greatest challenges that have ever faced mankind?

My apologies to Jared Diamond, who does so brilliantly and more anthropologically than I do.

How long will it be until supply shortages of energy reserves: nuclear, oil, gas, coal and wood ruin the deferred-risk valuations of real property, shares and bonds, and commodities? Some say there are no energy shortages, nor will there be. "Tomorrow’s hand holds the solution to the challenges of today." Faith based. Some say Global Central Bankers have got a handle on the creditmoney policy. Also faith based. Still, some are better than others at making educated guesses about such.

Will we witness central bankers reviled by boomers who will have lived long enough to witness the bust that eventually follows every boom? We may. If it happens, it will be another notable example of GBB. Goofy Boomer Behavior. Yes, Baby Boomer is a broad brush generalization. True, all generalizations have exceptions including this one. But this example ain’t one of ‘em. More...

The proposed "Immigration Cost Recovery Act" to control the border and to positively identify and derive taxes from immigration law violators sparked some good comments. Thank you all for your responses. Here’s mine to yours. It’s an essay but not too lengthy. Best regards, David.

What’s the human cost of our recent wave of economic migration? "Illegal immigrant deaths" has 534 results on Google. It’s unacceptable.

The recent growth rate of their increasing numbers is conceded to be unsustainable for several factors including supply, demand, enforcement, civil tolerance and global economic uncertainty. Do we steer the process or do we risk the unintended consequences of stalling? More...

I propose "The Immigration Cost Recovery Act" to control the border and to positively identify and derive taxes from law breakers.

We can do better enforcing our current immigration laws. That means funding and manpower to do the job. We know if we want less of something, like illegal immigration, we can tax it. If we want more of something, like border security, we must fund it wisely and from its source. Why not require that every illegal immigrant pay for the cost of their law breaking and their illegal presence? I am proposing legislation that will reduce illegal immigration by taxing it at its source, the illegal immigrant. I know the perils of protectionism and the existing friction between some nativisits and the 4% who have come here illegally. None the less, doing nothing is no longer an option. Read more...