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Double Digit Lead! Obama opens a double-digit lead in new NEWSWEEK poll
The global financial meltdown has caused a dramatic shift in the 2008 presidential race, according to the latest NEWSWEEK poll. With four weeks left in the presidential campaign, Barack Obama now leads John McCain by double digits, 52 percent to 41 percent among likely voters—a marked shift from the last Newsweek poll, conducted one month ago, when the two candidates were tied at 46 percent. The global financial meltdown has caused a dramatic shift in the 2008 presidential race, according to the latest NEWSWEEK poll. With f... more
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NY election mix-up: 'Osama' on the ballot
In an upstate New York county, hundreds of voters have been sent absentee ballots in which they could vote for "Barack Osama."
The absentee ballots sent to voters in Rensselaer County identified the two presidential candidates as "Barack Osama" and "John McCain." In the United States, the best-known individual named Osama is Osama bin Laden, leader of the al Qaida terrorist group behind the 2001 attacks that destroyed the World Trade Center in New York City. In an upstate New York county, hundreds of voters have been sent absentee ballots in which they could vote for "Barack Osama.... more -
A Dear John letter from the heart.
We really aren't right for each other. We need a more stable man.
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Racist Obama Billboard Causes Outrage
Highway billboard attacking Obama inspires heated newspaper letters.
A billboard in West Plains showing a caricature of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama wearing a turban and using his middle name -- Hussein -- in quotes has sparked outrage and accusations of racism. Highway billboard attacking Obama inspires heated newspaper letters. ... more -
Fictitious Donors Found in Obama Finance Records
Last December, someone using the name "Test Person," from "Some Place, UT," made a series of contributions, the largest being $764, to Senator Barack Obama's presidential campaign totaling $2,410.07.
Someone identifying himself as "Jockim Alberton," from 1581 Leroy Avenue in Wilmington, Delaware, began giving to Obama last November, contributing $10 and $25 at a time for a total of $445 through the end of February.
The only problem? There is no Leroy Avenue in Wilmington. And Jockim Alberton, who listed his employer and occupation as "Fdsa Fdsa," does not show up in a search of public records.
An analysis of campaign finance records by The New York Times this week found nearly 3,000 donations to Obama, the Democratic nominee, from more than a dozen people with apparently fictitious donor information. The contributions represent a tiny fraction of the record $450 million Obama has raised. But the questionable donations — some donors were listed simply with gibberish for their names — raise concerns about whether the Obama campaign is adequately vetting its unprecedented flood of donors.
It is unclear why someone making a political donation would want to enter a false name. Some perhaps did it for privacy reasons. Another, more ominous possibility, of course, is fraud, perhaps in order to donate beyond the maximum limits.
There is no evidence that questionable contributions amount to anything more than a small portion of Obama's fund-raising haul. The Times's analysis, conducted over a few days and looking for obvious anomalies, like names or addresses with all consonants, identified about $40,000 in suspect contributions that had not been refunded by the campaign as of its last filing with the Federal Election Commission, in September.
It appears that campaign finance records for Senator John McCain, the Republican nominee, contain far fewer obviously false names, although he has taken in about $200 million in contributions, less than half Obama's total. McCain did collect about $173,000 from donors who appear in campaign finance records with only a name and have no other identifying information. Obama collected about $314,000 from such donors.
Although campaigns have long wrestled with questionable donations, Sheila Krumholz, executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics, said the record-setting number of new donors Obama has drawn, many of them online, presents new challenges to a compliance system that remains stuck in the past.
Krumholz pointed out, however, that it would take an extraordinary amount of coordination to pull off widespread fraud.
Ben LaBolt, a spokesman for the Obama campaign, highlighted the more than 2.5 million donors it had to wade through. "We have been aggressive about taking every available step," he said, "to make sure our contributions are appropriate, updating our systems when necessary."
But even a contributor who used the name "Jgtj Jfggjjfgj," and listed an address of "thjtrj" in "gjtjtjtjtjtjr, AP," was able to contribute $370 in a series of $10 donations in August.
A pair of donors named "Derty West" and "Derty Poiiuy," who listed "rewq, ME" as their addresses and "Qwertyyy" or "Qwerttyyu" as either their employer or occupation, contributed a combined $1,110 in July.
In some cases, campaign finance records showed refunds from the Obama campaign, presumably to donors' credit cards, even as other contributions were accepted. Obama officials said most of their vetting occurred after a donation came in.
>>More at link.
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See? No one is completely free of corruption. Last December, someone using the name "Test Person," from "Some Place, UT," made a series of contributions, the la... more -
Crusader Against Obama Racism
Richard Trumka is the Secretary Treasurer of AFL-CIO and he has courage.
I say to all of my friends, of all skin colors, you must not tolerate racism in your space. If you want things to change, you must change. You must dig deep for the courage to say how you feel. When you hear a racist comment, or a racist fear, ask for specifics, you must speak your truth. If you do not fear a person because of their color then say that. Why should a racist comment be given more room to breathe and to grow than one that confronts it down?
I know it can be scary, but there are others like you, like us, on the front lines here. And your voice is needed. Listen to Richard Trumka and know that you are not alone in the journey to creating a better America. Richard Trumka is the Secretary Treasurer of AFL-CIO and he has courage. ... more -
charles hamilton warns obama
douglas caballero and charles hamilton straight talkin' on politics. charles warns that if obama becomes president, he'll have a lot to prove. douglas caballero and charles hamilton straight talkin' on politics. charles warns that if obama becomes president, he'll ha... more
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Obama knew what McCain was going to do
Remember in late July when Barack Obama predicted John McCain's attack strategy? Remember McCain's howls of protest in response? Well, it turns out that Obama was right about McCain's attacks. As it turns out, Obama knew McCain better than McCain knew McCain. Remember in late July when Barack Obama predicted John McCain's attack strategy? Remember McCain's howls of protest in respo... more
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Coal's dirty legacy one of our nation's greatest denials
Published on Thursday, October 9, 2008 by The Huffington Post
The Banality of Clean Coal: Extraction Crimes
by Jeff Biggers
"Three more retired coal miners died of black lung today. Over 105,000 Americans have suffered and died from black lung related diseases; 10,000 miners, according to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, have died from black lung in the last decade.
Despite a recent spike in black lung diagnoses, U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration chief Richard Stickler recently announced he was too busy "to tackle respirable dust." Stickler's apathy is nothing new to coal miners and their families--until an aggressive grassroots campaign and a tragic accident attracted national media in 1968, most politicians and coal operators denied that black lung ever existed. Some doctors on the payroll of the coal companies even claimed that coal mining cured TB. In truth, the medical community had been aware of black lung disease since the 1830s.
Sound outrageous? Coal's dirty legacy has been one of our nation's most unbelievable denials.
In the 1970s, as the nation panicked during another oil crisis, the coal industry and its political allies announced a massive "clean coal" plan for coal-to-liquid gas conversion that would free us from foreign oil dependence. Sound familiar? Unfortunately, the coal conversion program turned into a prohibitive boondoggle, and the grand plans disappeared into the dirty air once the OPEC crisis subsided. In the process, the sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides emissions from coal-fired plants ravaged our forests and lakes to the extent that we coined the term, "acid rain," to describe its devastation.
As they had done with black lung, the coal operatives and their political allies denied acid rain as an invention of environmentalists, despite the fact that scientists had been aware of the impact of sulfur dioxide emissions since the 1850s. Once again, it took an aggressive grassroots campaign to nudge Washington into signing the Clean Air Act in 1990.
According to a recent Gallop poll, the majority of Republicans do not believe global warming has begun, or that coal-fired plants generate over 40 percent of our carbon dioxide emissions. A quarter of the Democrats are on the same side of denial.
In the meantime, a new 1500 megawatt coal-fired plant being built in southern Illinois--one of the biggest in the nation--not only stands to emit 12 million tons of greenhouse gases annually, but sits on the edge of the New Madrid earthquake fault line." article continued below or at link above. Published on Thursday, October 9, 2008 by The Huffington Post The Banality of Clean Coal: Extraction Crimes by Jeff Biggers ... more -
Obama's Citizenship?
I have just recently found a lawsuit being "fought" to determine the citizenship of Barack Obama. I simply cannot believe the mainstream media has not informed the Country of the presence and details of this lawsuit.
In the US District Court of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania the suit has been filed by an attorney, Philip J. Berg. Mr. Berg is a Democrat, the former head of the Montgomery County, Pa. Democratic Party and a former member of the Democratic State Convention. This suit has been joined by the National Democratic Committee on the side of Obama and seeks to have the suit dismissed alleging Mr. Berg lacks standing to bring the lawsuit. The heart of the lawsuit appears to be a request Obama produce: (1). "Obama's "vault" version (certified copy of his "original" long version) birth certificate; (2). A certified copy of Obama's Certificate of Citizenship; (3). A certified copy of Obama's oath of allegiance. Apparently Obama has refused to supply such documents. He has recently been ordered by the Court to produce the documents.
The allegations necessitating the suit revolve around the location of Obama's birth and his subsequent citizenship of Indonesia. The scenario goes thusly. Obama's mother, late in her term carrying Obama she went to Kenya with her husband. She was resented by her in-laws and didn't like the way Muslim men treated women so she tried to return to Hawaii. Apparently the airlines refuse to allow her to fly due to her being very late term pregnant. So Obama, Jr. was born in Kenya. His father's family all verify this version and in Mombassa, Kenya there is registered the birth of one Barack Hussein Obama, Jr. on a date approximating when our Obama was born.
Alone this might not be significant as his mother was clearly at that time an American citizen. And as McCain was born in Panama and Sen. Barry Goldwater was born in Arizona Territory before Arizona became a state, legal reviews have supported the notion these folks met the Constitutional requirements of proper citizenship. There are records of "registry of birth" for Obama, on or about Aug. 8th, 1961 in Hawaii yet on two different occasions Obama's sister, Maya Soetoro told reporters he was born on Aug. 4th. 1961 at two different hospitals in Hawaii.
In Obama's case, he returned to Hawaii, but a few years later his mother married an Indonesian citizen, a Mr. Soetoro. They soon moved to Indonesia. In Indonesia Obama was adopted by Mr. Soetoro and was made and Indonesian citizen. His mother also became an Indonesian citizen. For Obama this was required as he had to be a citizen to go to school. At the time, 1967, American law required one to disavow their American citizenship if they became the citizen of another country, ergo he and his mother renounced their American citizenship. After a few years, Obama returned to Hawaii to live with his maternal grandparents. The law required him, at age 18 (the age of majority at the time), to apply to have his citizenship restored. He did not and has not are the allegations and he will not furnish document proving otherwise. If he in fact did not, he is not a US citizen and cannot serve in the Senate or as President. I have just recently found a lawsuit being "fought" to determine the citizenship of Barack Obama. I simply cannot believe th... more -
Kenyan candidate? Is obama involved in Kenyan politics?
On Tuesday October 7, 2008, Jerome Corsi, the racist rightwing author of his new book “The Obama Nation: Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality,” was deported from Kenya where he had traveled illegally to go and promote his new book. The Kenyan authorities said Corsi was in the country illegally and had no work authorization to sell or promote his book.
Regardless of whether Corsi was illegally in Kenya or not, his book is meant to insult Sen. Obama and degrade his Kenyan African roots. The book carries wild and false allegations about Sen. Obama including the allegation that Sen. Obama –his father was from Kenya’s Luo ethnic group-- is a secret Muslim.
There is nothing wrong with being a Muslim in the first place. The truth is Sen. Obama is not a Muslim; he is a devoted Christian. Secondly, the book is an insult on the Luos in Kenya and millions of others who live in Sudan, Ethiopia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania and Uganda from where Sen. Obama derives his ancestry.
The Luos are very honest and exemplary citizens of their countries and a trashy book like Corsi’s is an insult to Luo ancestry. In fact, the book is an insult to me as a Luo myself.
It is this racist rightwing bigotry promoted by people like Corsi that has been promoted to undermine the good work and exemplary leadership that Sen. Obama represents. It is the same bigotry that has been used by Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, a racist African dictator supported by Christian right in America and the Bush Administration. He once told a reporter for The Atlantic Monthly magazine that Black people who were captured by whites into slavery centuries ago were “stupid,” and that’s why they were captured.
In Uganda, this U.S.-financed dictator has detained over two million Acholi Luos into concentration camps with over 1,000 Luo people in northern Uganda are dying every week. It is the same people like Corsi who promoted bigotry in Kenya in the recent violent election that led to the questionable power-sharing deal between defeated Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki and the victorious Raila Amollo Odinga, who settled for the prime minister’s post to avoid further ethnic bloodshed.
Corsi’s book claims Sen. Obama and Odinga are both Muslims who should not be allowed to lead. The truth is both Prime Minister Odinga and Sen. Obama are not Muslim. Their only crime in Corsi’s eyes is their Luo ancestry.
The 2008 presidential election in US presents a clear choice of either keeping an ugly past that Sen. McCain, President George Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, and Corsi represent or moving forward to a promising future that Sen. Obama wants to usher.
It is because of bad choices and swifboating tactics that Americans ended up with President Bush in the White House in the first place--a man who has not only dipped America into a $11 trillion national debt, but also loss of jobs and 5,000 deaths of American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001.
The dirty campaign and hatred that Sen. McCain and Gov. Palin are propagating is very dangerous for this country and it must stop. Their call to demonize, kill or cause Americans to hate Sen. Obama just because of his color and ancestry must be rejected by all sound minded Americans.
Sen. McCain and his Republican Party are happy with all that is going on today in the country and they want another four years of the same.
No We Can’t. On Tuesday October 7, 2008, Jerome Corsi, the racist rightwing author of his new book “The Obama Nation: Leftist Politics and the Cult... more -
A Question of Barack Obama's Character
WASHINGTON -- Convicted felon Tony Rezko. Unrepentant terrorist Bill Ayers. And the race-baiting Rev. Jeremiah Wright. It is hard to think of any presidential candidate before Barack Obama sporting associations with three more execrable characters. Yet let the McCain campaign raise the issue, and the mainstream media begin fulminating about dirty campaigning tinged with racism and McCarthyite guilt by association.
But associations are important. They provide a significant insight into character. They are particularly relevant in relation to a potential president as new, unknown, opaque and self-contained as Obama. With the economy overshadowing everything, it may be too late politically to be raising this issue. But that does not make it, as conventional wisdom holds, in any way illegitimate.
McCain has only himself to blame for the bad timing. He should months ago have begun challenging Obama's associations, before the economic meltdown allowed the Obama campaign (and the mainstream media, which is to say the same thing) to dismiss the charges as an act of desperation by the trailing candidate.
McCain had his chance back in April when the North Carolina Republican Party ran a gubernatorial campaign ad that included the linking of Obama with Jeremiah Wright. The ad was duly denounced by The New York Times and other deep thinkers as racist.
This was patently absurd. Racism is treating people differently and invidiously on the basis of race. Had any white presidential candidate had a close 20-year association with a white preacher overtly spreading race hatred from the pulpit, that candidate would have been not just universally denounced and deemed unfit for office but written out of polite society entirely.
Obama's political career was launched with Ayers giving him a fundraiser in his living room. If a Republican candidate had launched his political career at the home of an abortion-clinic bomber -- even a repentant one -- he would not have been able to run for dogcatcher in Podunk. And Ayers shows no remorse. His only regret is that he "didn't do enough."
Why are these associations important? Do I think Obama is as corrupt as Rezko? Or shares Wright's angry racism or Ayers' unreconstructed 1960s radicalism?
No. But that does not make these associations irrelevant. They tell us two important things about Obama.
First, his cynicism and ruthlessness. He found these men useful, and use them he did. Would you attend a church whose pastor was spreading racial animosity from the pulpit? Would you even shake hands with -- let alone serve on two boards with -- an unrepentant terrorist, whether he bombed U.S. military installations or abortion clinics?
Most Americans would not, on the grounds of sheer indecency. Yet Obama did, if not out of conviction then out of expediency. He was a young man on the make, an unknown outsider working his way into Chicago politics. He played the game with everyone, without qualms and with obvious success.
Second, and even more disturbing than the cynicism, is the window these associations give on Obama's core beliefs. He doesn't share Rev. Wright's poisonous views of race nor Ayers' views, past and present, about the evil that is American society. But Obama clearly did not consider these views beyond the pale. For many years he swam easily and without protest in that fetid pond.
Until now. Today, on the threshold of the presidency, Obama concedes the odiousness of these associations, which is why he has severed them. But for the years in which he sat in Wright's pews and shared common purpose on boards with Ayers, Obama considered them a legitimate, indeed unremarkable, part of social discourse.
Do you? Obama is a man of first-class intellect and first-class temperament. But his character remains highly suspect. There is a difference between temperament and character. Equanimity is a virtue. Tolerance of the obscene is not.
letters@charleskrauthammer.com WASHINGTON -- Convicted felon Tony Rezko. Unrepentant terrorist Bill Ayers. And the race-baiting Rev. Jeremiah Wright. It is hard to t... more -
Palin on SNL: Done Deal Tina Fey has plans to run for VP?
Cindy Adams, the incomparable gossip columnist at our sister news paper the NY Post writes that Sarah Palin will make an appearance on Saturday Night Live. Cindy Adams says it will be for an Oct 25th show.
From Today’s NY Post.
SOCCER moms and Joe Sixpacks, listen up. Get your beer, mooseburgers and caribou dips ready. Sarah Palin is doing “Saturday Night Live.” Not Tina Fey doing Sarah Palin doing “Saturday Night Live.” But the Sarah Herself. She has already OK’d it. She’s booked. It’s confirmed. Done deal. Sketches are being sketched as we speak. She - eyeglasses, haircomb, designer jacket and trunkful of gosh-darns, golly-gees and gol-dangs - will be on “SNL” Saturday night, Oct. 25. Sarah’s rehearsal time has already been penciled in for Friday the 24th. And it’s because she wants to do it.
So, my question is: Does this mean Tina Fey has plans to run for VP? Cindy Adams, the incomparable gossip columnist at our sister news paper the NY Post writes that Sarah Palin will make an appearance o... more -
nobama08nobama Barack Obama Voter
From: nobama08nobama
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An Interview with McCain and Obama (In the Year 2012)
- President John McCain has refused to give interviews or meet with the press throughout his entire term as president. Until now. Since Cracked.com is now the only reliable source of news in America, and since I am Cracked’s Senior Political Correspondent, President McCain has been kind enough to sit down with me for this very rare interview. I enter the Oval Office, and he is already waiting for me. He looks about 50 years older than he did when he took office and a thousand times more tired.
- President Barack Obama goes on television to address the nation, on average, six times a day. While President Obama is certainly visible to the point of aggravation, he’s (shockingly) given very few interviews. Since Cracked.com is now the only reliable source of news in America, and since I am Cracked’s Senior Political Correspondent, President Obama has been kind enough to skip his post-Brunch State of the Union address to sit down with me for this very rare interview. I enter the Oval Office, and he is seated while an artist diligently paints his portrait.
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How only the guys from Cracked can tell it. - President John McCain has refused to give interviews or meet with the press throughout his entire term as president. Until now. Sinc... more -
Obama Knew McCain would use petty smears as early as July!
Remember in late July when Barack Obama predicted John McCain's attack strategy? Remember McCain's howls of protest in response? Well, it turns out that Obama was right about McCain's attacks. As it turns out, he knew McCain better than McCain knew McCain. I guess that means we can call him "Nostrobamus." Remember in late July when Barack Obama predicted John McCain's attack strategy? Remember McCain's howls of protest in respo... more
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To Obama and McCain supporters. Where is the leadership?
If there was anytime in the presidential race that our "leaders" should have stepped up and showed some true leadership, it was in the last couple of months. but instead, they offered petty snipes at each other and soundbite policies. When you ask their supporters what your leader is doing or has done. The obama people say well he's cool and not erratic like McCain . McCain people say well he puts country first and he's experience by far qualifies him to lead us in these tumultuous times. WRONG WRONG and WRONG.
To Obama Fan's
You believe in your leader, what is he going to do after the election. where is the SPECIFIC policies that he is offering. what has he proposed to do about the 2 trilion plus bail out already in place and the falling markets. this is his areas of strength supposedly but I've looked through his policies online because on the trail everything either candidate says is full of crap. and there is nothing there that address this crisis. shocking because everything he will do for the next four years will be determined by this moment. This is not our 9/11 this is our pearl harbor and just as that changed the direction of the war this will change the direction of America's economy and its future and yet he has not offered anything of substance. WHERE IS THE LEADERSHIP
To McCain's fan's
You believe your leader is full of experience and is the great lower taxes and lower spending guy and yet the one part that our government that desperately needs to be cut down ,the militar, he has refused to cut down . good fiscal policy.ha. he has not offered any specifics either if anything he is worse of than obama because he's main theme is country first . in the last couple of weeks when the country needed leadership when the country needed a plan a focus and a new direction, he instead of coming out with a new plan a new direction to counter obama( which would have been far more effective) goes after obama injecting some of the nastiest campaign tactics seen in awhile. I'm beginning to think that the republican party motto of winning is smear first. country second. if he cares for this country as much as he says he does, McCain should have sat with his economic team talked with bush and Obama and came up with a plan after all he says he wants to work across party lines and put our country first . yeah right. Experience where is the experiences. he is far worse because he almost never offers anything in his speeches and his campaign websites reads like spark notes online. WHERE IS THE LEADERSHIP
So who are you voting for, and what are they offering. Don't tell me hope because this country needs more than hope don't tell me experience because non of them have any experience in governing or running a nation. if anything Palin has more experience in that department than any of the men in that ticket . This country needs leadership, the world needs leadership in a time when America's character and image is questioned these two men should have been a shinning example of what America is capable of. instead they are almost as laughable as the current administration . The next administration will be working with one hand tied behind their backs and with the performance of these two men in a time of crisis none of them seem to be prepared for this job. Whoever comes out with a plan to solve this crisis will be forever (or for a long time) looked upon as the steady hand of leadership that was needed in a time of desperation. unfortunately this will not come from this men or maybe even America. the last solid thing that no other nation in the world could lay claim to ,our leadership and financial strength , maybe taken our from us by some other country and our leadership have chosen to call each other names instead of offering the change we need and putting country first. If there was anytime in the presidential race that our "leaders" should have stepped up and showed some true leadership, it ... more -
McCain - Losing Ground With Working-Class Whites
From The Article:
"...In the Democratic primaries, working-class whites consistently backed Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. Later polls showed them overwhelmingly favoring Republican nominee John McCain.
Now, driven by fears that their personal finances could further deteriorate, many see Obama as the better choice — their thinking in some cases driven more by concern about how McCain would handle the economy than any growing admiration for his rival.
"I don't know that there's anything I particularly like about him (Obama), but I dislike McCain, and I dislike the way the country is, and Republicans need to change," said lifelong Republican Ruth Ann Michel, 64, a retiree shopping in a market in Butler on a recent day. She said her vote for Obama would be her first for a Democratic presidential candidate..."
"...Since early September, growing numbers of whites who have not finished college have been expressing the view that Obama cares about people like them, even as fewer say so about McCain, according to AP-GfK polling...
In early September, McCain had a 26-point advantage among white voters without a college degree who were likely to vote, according to the poll. But by late September, the advantage had dropped to 7 points, with McCain leading 46 percent to 39 percent among this group..." From The Article: ... more -
Stock Market Plunges: Hard Times for the Rich, Poor and Homeless
The Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index was down nearly 7.6 percent yesterday and the Dow Jones industrial average was down 678.91 points, both posting one of their worst days in post-war history. In addition, new data released on Thursday showed that retail investors were withdrawing tens of billions of dollars from stock mutual funds, a sign that the panic on Wall Street is spreading.
This stupendous stock market crash should serve as a stark reminder to us that ultimately, no one is much different from people who are either very poor or homeless.
This piece presents a number of emotionally stunning photographs, as well as a remarkable, very touching short film. The Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index was down nearly 7.6 percent yesterday and the Dow Jones industrial average was down 678.91 p... more
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