I usually stick to a Monday-Wednesday-Friday posting schedule. However, conveniently, America seems to be going to hell in a handbasket and I also have the day off to type to you about it. I think I've finally found the right amount of treble to boost for my Metallica Death Magnetic custom remaster, so let's talk about the state of the world.

Hats Off to (William) Smythe

First, congratulations to William Smythe. Just a week or two ago I wrote to ask him if he'd ever considered becoming a political speechwriter, because I was contemplating such a move. He said he had been thinking about that, too. Well yesterday I get an e-mail from him that he has in fact written his first speech for the friend-of-a-friend running for the state legislature of Missouri! The speech shall debut soon at a campaign fundraiser. Wow.

Bloomberg Article is False

Scott responded to my post Monday with a news story from Bloomberg, a financial newspaper. I had written that, per the current financial crisis, it looked like eight years of Republican rule and trickle-down economics hadn't worked. The story Scott sent said Democrats were responsible for the Fannie/Freddie crisis because they voted against a bill John McCain co-sponsored in 2005. I didn't rule out the possibility, but I wanted to verify this. Searching the Internet I couldn't find any reference to this vote besides the Bloomberg article Scott had sent me from talk show host Neal Boortz' site, which has proliferated all over the Internet.

I couldn't find another reference to this vote until I ran across it on the Daily Kos. The Daily Kos is a hardcore Left Web site, so I take what it has to say with a grain of salt. However the author actually provides a link to the Library of Congress record that shows the vote never happened! It never made it out of committee! And as I had suspected, if the Republicans had wanted to pass it they could've easily done so because they were the majority in 2005! So the Democrats hands come up clean on this one because they never got near the thing.

The author of the Bloomberg article, Kevin Hassett, is also a John McCain campaign adviser. Rick Davis, McCain's campaign manager, was receiving $15,000 a month from Freddie Mac until just last month for "political access." McCain also has a former Fannie Mae lobbyist employed on his team full-time. Yes, Obama and Clinton also have Fannie/Freddie contributions, but...so does everybody.

However, Scott may never get to read that because he may be stuck in line to buy gas.

A Nation Outta Gas

I noticed several gas stations around here in Atlanta didn't have their prices up. I thought maybe the price was fluctuating so much they figured it was a waste of time to put numbers up. But no, Atlanta is just out of gas! Only 10% of stations have any gas, I've read. Last night I saw a QuikTrip where the line literally was down the street, then around the back of the building. It made me wish I had some Obama `08 pamphlets to hand out to these Georgia motorists enjoying the fruits of their Bush vote, but then, maybe it taint Bush's fault. I do see some grousing about governor Sonny Perdue, another Republican, though.

McCain McWon't

Fortunately for us John McCain is willing to skip Friday night's debate to help put out these fires. How selfless! (Or is he afraid?) David Letterman caught him lying, though. He canceled his Late Show appearance because, he said, he would be flying back to Washington. Letterman's cameras then show him being made-up for an interview with Katy Couric at the very moment he was supposedly on a flight to D.C.

Letterman also says, hey, so why doesn't he send in his "second-string quarterback," Sarah Palin? If he trusts her with the keys to the country he surely trusts her to do a interview in his place, right? RIGHT?

If this political chit-chat turns you off, don't despair. Tomorrow is another good ol' rock 'n' roll post, and it'll be about someone besides Metallica for a change.

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UPDATE: Sonny says, "Don't Believe Your Lyin' Eyes"

Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue says really there's plenty of gas, this whole panic over a gas shortage is just people's crazy delusions. So what if every single gas station in your neighborhood is closed? No biggie. Now if you'll pardon him, he has a $100,000 trip to Europe to take this weekend.

Hey, at least he brought back the old Georgia flag like he implied he would. No, wait...

I just hope when he returns from Europe he'll hold a prayer for oil on the capitol steps. It worked so well when he did it for the rain.