Shell game, as defined by Wikipedia:

The shell game (also known as Thimblerig, Three shells and a pea, the old army game) is portrayed as a gambling game, but in reality, when a wager for money is made, it is a confidence trick used to perpetrate fraud. In confidence trick slang, this famous swindle is referred to as a short-con because it is quick and easy to pull off...

Bold emphasis is diarist's.

As of the past 24 hours, the charade ("Bailout myths: what we all need to know." ) of there being any transparency with regard to our government's efforts, led by U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, to shore up our economy is now, officially, a sick joke.

Obama takes on McCain's jabs about Ayers

copyright © 2008 Betsy L. Angert.  BeThink.org

Last evening Mister Gregory had a chance to speak to Mister Fairbanks of the issue.  "Who is Barack Obama?"  Barry thought he might introduce the topic delicately.  The two men were in a car together.  They had traveled across the country to meet with school Principals, Superintendents, and other professional educators.  The hour was late, and dinner was on the agenda.

As the gents drove to the restaurant, Barry began the conversation; "Just as Barack Obama might not have known Bill Ayers background, who would think someone in this car was a member of SDS, Students for a Democratic Society?"  Sean smiled and quickly replied, "I would."  He then revealed that he was in fact a member of the largest and most influential radical student organization of the 1960s.  The devout Republican, a man who might represent the Corporate Class belonged to an organization, which was "initially concerned with equality, economic justice, peace, and participatory democracy."  Sean recounted stories.  He told tales of his participation in anti-war protests.  Mister Fairbanks helped to close his college.  Sean showed "determined resistance," he was a radical, a rebel.  He could be considered a less visible, and less violent, Bill Ayers.

Some really great news !

As we are headed to the home stretch of the 2008 Presidential campaign, the Clinton's are launching a multi-state campaign through battleground states for Senator Barack Obama.

Former President Bill Clinton & Senator Hillary Clinton will take center stage on Sunday in Scranton, PA together with VP candidate Senator Joe Biden.

After the Scranton rally, the Clinton's will take separate routes through battleground states in support of Senator Barack Obama. They will also campaign for Senate & House democratic candidates across the country.

Bill Clinton will then be campaigning in Richmond and Roanoke,Virginia. He then proceeds to campaign in the two battleground states of Ohio & Nevada. He carried both states in 1992 & 1996. Hillary Clinton also remains popular in these two states.

While Hillary Clinton's campaign schedule after Scranton, PA includes the battlground states of Florida, Ohio,Minnesota & Omaha, Nebraska. ( Hillary in Nebraska ! Wow- Obama must be really close in getting that 1 electoral vote in the district)

Bill Clinton was also in Florida earlier this week while Hillary Clinton campaign in Little Rock, Arkansas last Friday.

Senator Clinton also gave radio interviews in North Carolina & Spanish stations in Florida on behalf of Senator Obama. She also launched a Women's get out the vote by phone in Wisconsion.

Senator Clinton has headline more than 50 events for Barack Obama in the last 60 days & has raised over $10 million dollars for the Obama campaign.

This is just awesome news for Senator Obama & the democratic party. While the big dogs Bill & Hillary are going all out for Obama, John McCain is doing everything to stay away from the Bush family.

Just like Georgia & West Virginia, I would not be surprised if Obama closes the gap in Arkansas. The Arkansas Governor & two Senators are also spending time campaigning for Senator Obama.

Go Go Obama ! We are now about the enter the last 3 weeks !!!

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jxab7 fpWR_RJeKEp6hrgpXHqBqrgD93OKSF80

What to do about this ?

 "I also would also pray, Lord, that  your reputation is involved in all that happens between now and November, because there are millions of people around this world praying to their god-whether it's Hindu, Buddha, Allah-that his opponent wins, for a variety of reasons."

Today marks the 6th anniversary of the Iraq War Resolution. As of today, we've lost 4,181 brave men and women and thousands more have been injured. Our moral standing in the world has been weakened and we're mired in debt. We desperately need new leadership in the White House and we need to increase our numbers in Congress to finally put an end to the war. Here in Oregon, Iraqi veterans are speaking out in support of Barack Obama and Oregon Senate candidate Jeff Merkley. More below the fold....

Full disclosure, I am the netroots director for OR-Sen candidate Jeff Merkley

Enough is enough John McCain and Sarah Palin!

I agree with John Lewis who said, "As one who was a victim of violence and hate during the height of the Civil Rights Movement, I am deeply disturbed by the negative tone of the McCain-Palin campaign.  What I am seeing reminds me too much of another destructive period in American history.  Sen. McCain and Gov. Palin are sowing the seeds of hatred and division, and there is no need for this hostility in our political discourse."

AAPP: OK folks you remember when McCain was asked at the Saddleback Church Forum which three "wise" people he'd consult with upon becoming president, McCain, listed among others civil rights hero Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., "who can teach us all a lot about the meanings of courage and commitment to causes greater than ourself."

Let's not get it twisted folks, Mark Karlin's Editor's Blog over at buzzflash.com says it best, It's a John McCain/Sarah Palin Lynch Mob politics.

As Mark writes, "There was the raw smell of scary stupid ignorance in the air, and even Jon Stewart could barely conceal his disgust with what was supposed to be a comic sketch.

Palin has been going around the nation inciting mobs with the kind of emotional appeals (although in a more coded form) that one used to find at segregationist rallies. A video of some rabidly ignorant crowd at a Palin speech in Ohio has gone viral on the Internet, and it's a brief and scary insight into the reality that the ugly, bigoted heart of America's dark underside is still beating strong - and has just gotten a second life with the incendiary direction of the McCain campaign.

Given that the mainstream media has still not picked up on the video of Sarah Palin welcoming, this year in 2008, the Alaskan Independence Party to their yearly meeting -- which we have posted on BuzzFlash several times -- it is hard to understand how the irony of a governor who has clearly documented close ties to a group that regards the United States as an "occupying force" gets away with the ugly farce of basically calling Obama a terrorist. (Yes, it's in coded language, but that is what Palin and McCain are doing, inciting the fears of the "dark other," the man with the middle name of "Hussein.") One of the bigots at the Palin Ohio rally said that terrorism was in Obama's "bloodline." This is the kind of talk that brought Hitler to power.

In 2008, the McCain campaign has decided to use the Salem Witch Trials as its model for running for the highest office in our great land."

Meanwhile, The head of the nation's biggest labor federation is joining the chorus of voices warning about the increasingly angry crowds coming to John McCain's campaign events. This as reported by the Boston Globe.

At rallies this week, McCain's criticisms of Democrat Barack Obama have been met with shouts of "terrorist," "liar," and other harsh words.

"Sen. John McCain, Gov. Sarah Palin and the leadership of the Republican party have a fundamental moral responsibility to denounce the violent rhetoric that has pervaded recent McCain and Palin political rallies," said John Sweeney, president of the AFL-CIO, which has endorsed Obama. "When rally attendees shout out such attacks as 'terrorist' or 'kill him' about Sen. Barack Obama, when they are cheered on by crowds incited by McCain-Palin rhetoric -- it is chilling that McCain and Palin do nothing to object.

AAPP: Lets not forget how this all started. People throughout America have been tracking it on Youtube. It all started when McCain and Palin has almost incited a color and ideological war.

"Breaking News: McCain says Obama is not an Arab"

This is what the bubble at the bottom of the screen read at a McCain rally and town hall meeting he held yesterday.  And to see and hear his reaction to such claims is not as satisfying as I thought it would be.  Not at all.  I see a broken man who may actually regret the tone of his campaign.