But Sarah Palin's performance in the tiny vignettes of unscripted dialogue in which we've been allowed to see her has been nothing short of frightening — really, as I said, pity-inducing. And I say that as someone who has thought from the start that the criticisms of her abilities — as opposed to her ideology — were much too extreme. One of two things is absolutely clear at this point: she is either (a) completely ignorant about the most basic political issues — a vacant, ill-informed, incurious know-nothing, or (b) aggressively concealing her actual beliefs about these matters because she's petrified of deviating from the simple-minded campaign talking points she's been fed and/or because her actual beliefs are so politically unpalatable, even when taking into account the right-wing extremism that is permitted, even rewarded, in our mainstream. I'm not really sure which is worse, but it doesn't really matter, because with 40 days left before the election, both options are heinous.

"Look, not communicating with developers is A Bad Thing. Not letting developers communicate with each other is A Very Bad Thing. Unlike with development on its platforms, like the Mac, Apple hasn't even provided a way for developers to talk to each other. No web forums, no mailing lists, nothing. In fact, with the NDA Apple's gone in the other direction entirely, prohibiting discussion of iPhone development, even among people who are all bound by the NDA."

Gosh, I want to sit and watch this with my friend Carrie, who thinks Palin is eloquent and all that. Gosh, no.

I trust H2FaF, so I'm giving TW Walsh a shot …

"Note that these are just the official rates. Some 600,000 fewer jobs are listed on the nation’s payrolls than were there last year. Millions more Americans are too discouraged even to look for work. And as employers squeeze their payrolls, even people with jobs are putting in fewer hours.

"Bailing out Wall Street’s bad debts when millions more Americans can’t pay their bills is like bailing out a rowboat springing more leaks while the ocean is rising. Many of the average taxpayers being asked to take on Wall Street’s bad loans are the same people whose incomes are dropping, which means they’re struggling to pay their debts and potentially creating even more bad loans." Now, Reich is right, but an illiquid credit market will kill the job market, too.

"Let’s not kid ourselves: There are plenty of people in Apple who know exactly what Apple needs to do to fix this. The only question is, are they the ones in charge? If they are, then Apple’s probably just waiting for the right time to announce that it’s all been a big misunderstanding and now everything’s hunky-dory.

"But just for the record—and just in case Apple’s behavior really is malicious rather than incompetent—let’s go over what needs to be done. (And before I start my list, let me recommend that you read the essay on this topic by Wil Shipley of Delicious Monster if you haven’t already, because Wil’s got it right.)" RIGHT ON.

Bad-ass!

"The NRA, however, simply dismisses Obama's stated position as 'rhetoric' and substitutes its own interpretation of his record as a secret 'plan.' Said an NRA spokesman: 'We believe our facts.'

"Perhaps so, but believing something doesn't make it so. And we find the NRA has cherry-picked, twisted and misrepresented Obama's record to come up with a bogus 'plan.'" And I believe the NRA's full of shit—and I used to be a member and am a gun-owner.

"Obama used this misleading accusation on the campaign trail over the weekend. In Daytona Beach, Florida, on Sept. 20, Obama said: 'So let me get this straight – he wants to run health care like they've been running Wall Street.'

"The analogy to banking in the article was poorly timed, given recent financial events, though it's likely it was written well before Wall Street's crisis reached its climax last week." Boooooo, Barack. Boooo.

"For all the costs of a rescue, the cost of failure to the economy would sometimes be higher. As finance shrinks, credit will be sucked out of the economy and without credit, people cannot buy houses, run businesses or as easily invest in the future. So far the American economy has held up. The hope is that the housing bust is nearing its bottom and that countries like China and India will continue to thrive. Recent falls in the price of oil and other commodities give central banks scope to cut interest rates—as China showed this week.

"But there is a darker side, too. Unemployment in America rose to 6.1% in August and is likely to climb further. Industrial production fell by 1.1% last month; and the annual change in retail sales is at its weakest since the aftermath of the 2001 recession. Output is shrinking in Japan, Germany, Spain and Britain, and is barely positive in many other countries." By credit we live, by credit we die.

I've been thinking about this, and it's why I'm reluctantly for the bailout.

AMEN.

Fascinating… I should use this.

Crap. This makes me feel old. [I turn 30 in nine days.]

I feel the need for some Project: Space Station!