Back to the future - courtesy of corporate greed and political manipulation?

With the global financial markets appearing like houses of cards erected on shifting sands - it is comforting to realise that according to a US Treasury official the the humongous amount of the mooted financial bailout is "not based on any particular data point. We just wanted to choose a really large number" and that US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke may have deliberately engineered an exacerbation of the US liquidity crisis in order to force Congress' hand on this rescue bid.

Let us hope as a nation we Aussies keep the same sense of humour which saw us through the last 'great unwinding'.

Cartoon displayed at The La Trobe Journal

What is Barack doing with all those campaign dollars?

The Obama election campaign raised around $66 million in donations in August this year, 51% of which was apparently made up of donations of $200 or less.

Both he and McCain also receive hefty amounts from industry and lobby groups.

According to Open Secrets Obama has declared:

Cash on Hand: $77,404,118

Debts: $469,025

Date of last report: Aug 31 2008 12:00AM

Totals may include compliance fund receipts

With the source of all his election campaign funding breaking down in this manner:

Individual contributions $426,902,991 [94%]
PAC contributions $450 [0%]
Candidate self-financing $0 [0%]
Federal Funds $0 [0%]
Other $27,152,882 [6%]

Hardly a week goes by without some Obama for America appeal for a donation landing in my inbox, complete with 'offers' like this:

Yesterday I had to laugh as the email began; I've never asked you to make a donation before.

Good heavens - they never stop asking!

Obama seems to have collected enough to run a small island state and appears to have spent over $368 million so far.

Every single cent, other peoples money. What on earth is he doing with it all?

And is anyone out there receiving a relentless flow of begging letters from the McCain camp?

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Clarence Valley: perfect one day, terrifying the next

News.com.au on Tuesday:
"AUSTRALIA'S terrorism alert system will be changed to allow a threat level to be altered for a specific location or industry."

Local wags are saying that the Clarence Valley will be named as a high threat level location, due to the fact that Clarence Valley Council has just elected Richie Williamson as mayor and the Lower Clarence mob are bound to feel terrorized by this Grafton-based, Radio 2GF (albeit likeable) airhead heading local government.

Especially as he was mentored and endorsed by the North Coast Nats who are thought to have brought nothing but grief to the valley for years.

Richie Williamson elected Clarence Valley Council mayor

In what appears to have been a vote by his fellow shire councillors which ran 6-3, Richie Williamson became the new Clarence Valley Council mayor on 30 September.

Yesterday morning The Daily Examiner reported:

"The owner of 2GF in Grafton the station Mr Williamson works for has told Williamson's superiors any role beyond an ordinary councillor would require him to make a career choice. "Mr Williamson will be able to continue in (his) full time role as on-air breakfast announcer at 2GF and also fulfil (his) role as local councillor subject to agreement being reached on certain matters, including not standing for mayor," a spokesman for 2GF owner Bill Caralis said. "However (if Williamson) would want to seek the position of mayor, (he) would need to make a decision as to which career (he) would want to pursue."

It seems that Richie's political ambitions far exceed his desire to retain his media career.

However, it is possible that an attempt to dupe is afoot here - the spokesperson for Bill Caralis was careful not to rule out Richie being employed by 2GF in another capacity eg., consultant or program manager.

I think I can safely say that, not since Chris Gulaptis became mayor of the former Maclean Shire Council, has a Northern Rivers council so quickly run the risk of being marginalised by the poor choice of political 'friends' that a mayor has gathered around him.

A hint Richie - lose that meddlesome duo, Cansdell and Causley, quickly and ditch that MySpace page.

Having people tell the world that they think you are "a bit of a bitch" is not a good look for a mayor, nor is proudly advertising the lack of further educational achievement a potential turn-on for ministers and departments Clarence Valley Council will have to approach in the course of its sometimes complex business.

Photograph posted on MySpace

Just when I thought election hype couldn't get any weirder, along comes an Ohio corn farmer....

WHITEHOUSE, Ohio (AP) — An Ohio farmer would like to invite you to get lost inside the head of Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin.

A 16-acre corn maze near the town of Whitehouse has been carved in Palin's likeness, complete with her familiar updo hairstyle and eyeglasses.

Farmer Duke Wheeler says that Palin created a lot of excitement in the campaign and that he was hoping to generate some for this year's maze.

Wheeler says it took an artist from Idaho at least eight hours to mow down stalks for the maze.

WhiteHouse corn maze here.

Meanwhile out in the real world......

Gallup Daily: Obama Maintains 8-Point Lead

From Crikey on 30 September

And here is what Possum Comitatus makes of it all:

The Obama surge is continuing in both the markets and the polls, and the change in the markets is not only on the headline probabilities and a handful of States, but is general Obama push across nearly all States as we can see if we look at the current State probabilities and their change over the past week:

Graph from Pollytics

Garnaut gives his final opinion; but will the Rudd Government hear only the low 2020 emissions target and the politically easier options?

Chapter 24 Fateful Decisions [extract]

The consequences of inaction now are not similarly reversible.
The arithmetic of Chapter 3 about the new patterns of global growth takes away the time we may once have thought we had for experiment, talk, and leisurely decision making.
It tells us that business as usual is taking us quickly towards what the science tells us are high risks of highly disruptive climate change.
So fateful decisions are to be taken at Copenhagen.
The analysis of the current international situation in chapters 8, 9 and 10 tells us that a good outcome is not assured.
The international community is on a course plotted before the implications of the current era of growth we call the Platinum Age had been absorbed into its decision-making framework.
It is on a course plotted before humanity had absorbed the implications of the acceleration of economic growth in the early 21st century; the concentration of that growth in economies at the stage of development when growth absorbs huge amounts of energy; and in countries where coal is the cheapest and most convenient energy source.
New knowledge changes the calculus.
The old calculus said that there was time—time for all developed countries to take the early steps in mitigation, and then for all developing countries to join at a later unspecified date.
The old calculus said that it was good enough for the developing countries to begin to contribute through the Clean Development Mechanism and in other ways that made no additional contribution to the global mitigation effort, beyond commitments that the developed countries had already made.
The Review's updated projections show that approaches based on the old calculus will not hold the risks of dangerous climate change to acceptable levels.

The final report of the Garnaut Climate Change Review is here.

The Australian article:

In his final report on the case for action and a carbon reduction scheme in Australia, Professor Ross Garnaut has released economic modelling warning wages will fall as a result of the impact of climate change if the world fails to act. Sea levels will rise and heat related stress, dengue fever and gastroenteritis will impact on productivity. Roads and other infrastructure will also be affected.