Well, bite my butt and call me an apple!

WASHINGTON — In another unnerving day for Wall Street, investors suffered their worst losses since the terrorist attacks of 2001, and government officials raced to prevent the financial crisis from spreading.

Lehman Brothers tanked on Sunday night with employees scrambling throughout the building to gather their belongings in fear that, come Monday, the doors would be shut. They were.

Merrill Lynch was purchased by Bank of America at pennies on the dollar (approx $50bil which, if you know Merrill Lynch, was an act of desperation at best).

Yesterday, AIGs stock dropped nearly 60%. AIG is one of the largest investment firms in the United States. Rather, it WAS. Unless they can come up wtih $75BILLION IN BAIL OUT MONEY BY TOMORROW. And the White House is saying "thanks but no thanks" to a federal bail out. The government is broke. Aaaahhhh...weapons of mass destruction. I'm so glad we found them.

This recession brought to you by Conservative Ideology...and the letter "W".

I have never in my life been so glad to have a job. It makes me work harder, more efficiently and frankly, with a great deal more fear.

Colorado is a swing state this year. First time in many many elections that has been the case. We have traditionally been RED. And God, I hope we go BLUE this year. I think we stand a fair chance at that, but it's going to take some good hard work on the part of Obama/Biden supporters. It's going to take more-than-adequate research from all of us to be able to back up Obama and refute McCain (and that jokester, Palin).

So far, it's incredibly difficult though. I'm trying my hardest to convince a couple specific people to re-consider their McCain support. I'm just asking for people to look simply at the facts. What's hard is that people's emotions get invovled...and I really don't know why. FEELING like something is right almost never actually MAKES it right. You have got to remove emotions from the equation.

What I'm really getting tired of is people playing the Experience Card. You just can't do that with this election. You really can't. Because if you look at it that way, Biden is the only person really EXPERIENCED enough to run the country. And with that not being an option (because he's not "a heartbeat away from the presidency"), you have to remove that card from the deck.

But just for kicks, let's look at the various credentials surrounding our candidates:

BARACK OBAMA: Graduated from Columbia University (after transferring from Occidental College) with a degree in political science (emphasis in international relations). After working in Chicago as a community organizer, he studied law at Harvard University where he was the first black man (or man of color for that matter) to be president of the Harvard Law Review. He then taught constitutional law at University of Chicago Law for twelve years while working at a law firm specializing in civil rights. From 1997 to 2004, Obama was a member of the Illinois State Senate. In 2004, he was elected to the US Senate.

JOE BIDEN - Graduated from University of Delaware with a double major in history and political science. Continued to Syracuse Law School and graduated in 1969. Biden has been a US Senator since 1973 and has consistenly been named one of the least wealthy members of the Senate.

JOHN McCAIN - Graduated from the US Naval Academy at Annapolis in 1958 and went on to serve in the Vietnam War. First elected to the US Senate in January 1987. McCain was later on a list of potential running mates for Bush, Sr. in 1988.

SARAH PALIN - Enrolledat Hawaii Pacific College in 1982 (for one semester). Transferred to North Idaho College in 1983, then to University of Idaho, then to Matanuska-Sustina College (for one semester), then back to University of Idaho to complete her degree in communications-journalism in 1987. Won the Miss Wasilla pageant in 1984 and was 3rd place in Miss Alaska pageant where she won a college scholarship. In 1988, Palin was a sports reporter in Alaska. She was elected to Wasilla city council in 1992 and 1995. Was mayor of Wasilla from 1996-2002 and was elected Governor of AK in 2006.

Notice that neither of the Republican candidates every studied law or political science (something that, in my estimation, is crucial learning for a role in national politics).

Again, all I really ask is that you really weigh what is important to you in this election. Is it abortion rights? Gun control policies? Foreign affairs? Education? Equal pay for equal work? Raising minimum wage? The war in Iraq? Terrorism in general? Taxes? Universal health care? Immigration (legal or otherwise)?

Consider what you hold important to you. Consider which candidate falls in line the BEST with what you believe will be the best choices for the country.

But please....don't just blindly choose a candidate for the reason of "BECAUSE" or "I've ALWAYS been with this party!" Consider that maybe, this time around, the unexpected might be just what we need. Consider the possibility of NOT having another old white guy in the Oval Office. Consider that maybe, just MAYBE, the country can be better, be more, than what we've come to expect.

Simply, consider.