[Quote:]

But even more remarkable is this — measured by revenues, Apple has become the world’s third-largest mobile phone supplier. I know this sounds crazy, but it’s true — as measured in revenues, not units, Apple has become the third largest mobile phone supplier. Let’s look at the ranking — Nokia is clearly number one at 12.7 billion; Samsung number two at 5.9 billion; Apple is number three at 4.6 billion; Sony Ericsson, number four at 4.2; LG, number five at 3.4 billion; Motorola, number six at 3.2; and RIM number seven at 2.1. Pretty amazing.

[Quote:]

Lowry targets Powell:

Powell argued that John McCain “was a little unsure as to [how to] deal with the economic problems that we were having,” in contrast to Obama’s “steadiness” and “intellectual vigor.” It’s true that McCain flailed around early in the crisis, but he was desperately trying to find something that worked as his poll numbers tanked. If voters had been inclined to mindlessly blame Democrats rather than Republicans for the meltdown, Obama might not have looked so imperturbable.

Let me see if I’ve got this right: Powell is wrong because McCain was “desperately trying to find something that worked as his poll numbers tanked.” That’s Lowry’s idea of leadership? Suddenly you realize why Bush went so awry. They all think like Lowry. All they care about is politics, not policy.

[Quote:]

Now, under much pressure, the Pentagon has released more than 500 detainees over the past three years, while some 270 remain. Based on statistics about the fate of other released prisoners in other contexts, it would not have been surprising if many of these men had resumed their lives of terrorist crimes and illegal warfare. In the United States, more than two thirds of state prisoners are rearrested for serious new crimes within three years, according to the Department of Justice.

[..]

Almost a quarter of the Guantánamo detainees who have been released have been sent back to Saudi Arabia. Facing a substantial threat from terrorism in their own country, the Saudi authorities have been rigorous—some might say harsh—in imprisoning and punishing any terrorist deemed a danger. Yet in new statistics provided to us by the Ministry of Interior in Riyadh, zero of the 121 Guantánamo detainees received by the Saudis were deemed dangerous and ineligible for release.

It gets worse. Of those detainees returned to Saudi Arabia from Guantánamo, more than half have been released and are now free, most after spending a period of time in a halfway house designed to promote a smooth return to society. Only six former Guantánamo detainees have been rearrested in Saudi Arabia for any reason—an astonishingly low recidivism rate of less than 9 percent among those released.

[..]

The department’s list of named released detainees who have subsequently engaged in militant or terrorist activities anywhere in the world shows that 12 have done so, a recidivism rate of just 2 percent. In fact, the Pentagon can cite only six instances in which an inmate released from Guantánamo actually took up arms against the United States.

When recidivism rates for criminals typically run in the more than 60 percent range, and when at Guantánamo you have a rate in only the single digits, you don’t have much of a criminal (or in this case terrorist) population to begin with. We are hardly saying there are no terrorists at Guantánamo. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the operational commander of the 9/11 attacks, and others who were transferred there from secret overseas Central Intelligence Agency prisons in 2006 are certainly members of al Qaeda’s hard core.

What we are saying is that new statistics from the Saudi Ministry of Interior, corroborated by the Pentagon’s own findings, show that the overwhelming majority of individuals detained at Guantánamo not only were not terrorists, but were likely innocent of any crime.

This photo provided by the presidential campaign of Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., shows the Democratic presidential hopeful, Obama, on the beach with grandfather on his mother’s side, Stanley Armour Dunham. (AP Photo/Obama Presidential Campaign)

[Quote:]

Republicans attuned to conservative third-party efforts say that with less than two weeks to go until Election Day, the prospects for any 11th-hour, anti-Obama ad campaign are highly unlikely.

Many in the party, including inside the McCain campaign, have held out hope that a deep-pocketed benefactor would emerge to bankroll ads in the campaign’s final days – spots that might, for example, resurrect the most incendiary clips from the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

[..]

“Donors just weren’t willing to give the money,” explains LaCivita. “They were hurt badly in the market crash and they were always concerned about how McCain would react.”

The timing of the financial crisis couldn’t have been worse for Republicans. When Lehman Brothers went under on September 15, McCain was tied or in the margin of error in national polls. But when his poll numbers fell along with the stock market, wealthy conservatives saw little reason to invest their shrunken holdings on what was far from a sure thing.

“Republican donors at the end of day aren’t stupid,” said another Republican familiar with third-party activities this cycle. “They’re not going to throw good money after bad.”

[Quote:]

Chaylee Cole, a student at Fairmont State University, lost her part-time job in Weston last Friday after refusing to make telephone calls attacking Barack Obama.

McCain-Palin 2008 and the Republican National Committee were paying for the calls, according to a “work paper” handed to Cole and her co-workers at the Weston offices of 1.2.1 Direct Response, a company based in Philadelphia.

“I was working at the call center,” Cole said. “We got a campaign ad talking about how Obama had been part of terrorist attacks on the Capitol, the Pentagon and a judge’s home and had ties with Bill Ayers.

“Last Thursday, I told them I did not want to read it,” Cole said. “They said, ‘Either you read it or you go home.’

“I told them I wasn’t going to read it. They made me go home without pay for the rest of the day.”

The “work paper” told callers to say:

“Hello, I’m calling for John McCain and the RNC because you need to know that Barack Obama has worked closely with domestic terrorist Bill Ayers [airs], whose organization bombed the US Capitol, the Pentagon, a judge’s home, and killed Americans.

“And Democrats will enact an extreme leftist agenda if they take control of Washington. Barack Obama and his Democrat allies lack the judgment to lead our country.

“This call was paid for by McCain-Palin 2008 and the Republican National Committee.”

Cole said, “We were just supposed to read that message and hang up. One of my other issues working there was that someone told me it didn’t matter who picked up the phone, whether it was a 5-year-old or a 95-year-old. We should read the message.”

[Quote:]

Al-Qaida supporters suggested in a Web site message this week they would welcome a pre-election terror attack on the U.S. as a way to usher in a McCain presidency.

The message, posted Monday on the password-protected al-Hesbah Web site, said if al-Qaida wants to exhaust the United States militarily and economically, “impetuous” Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain is the better choice because he is more likely to continue the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“This requires presence of an impetuous American leader such as McCain, who pledged to continue the war till the last American soldier,” the message said. “Then, al-Qaida will have to support McCain in the coming elections so that he continues the failing march of his predecessor, Bush.”

[Quote:]

The federal government on Friday placed beluga whales that live in Cook Inlet in Alaska on the endangered species list, rejecting efforts by Gov. Sarah Palin and others against increased protection.

The relatively small, whitish whales, sometimes visible from downtown Anchorage, declined by almost 50 percent in the late 1990s, and federal scientists say they have not rebounded despite a series of protections, including a halt to subsistence hunting by Alaska Natives. About 375 whales have been counted in Cook Inlet each of the last two years, according to scientists with the National Marine Fisheries Service.

“In spite of protections already in place, Cook Inlet beluga whales are not recovering,” James W. Balsiger, the acting assistant administrator for the fisheries agency, said in a written statement. The whales are in danger of extinction, Dr. Balsiger said.

The announcement, made on a predetermined schedule under the Endangered Species Act, drew further attention to Ms. Palin’s positions on environmental issues. The governor, the Republican nominee for vice president, has come under scrutiny for her ambiguous statements about climate change and her administration’s failed effort earlier this year to prevent another species, the polar bear, from being listed as threatened. The state is suing the federal government over the polar bear listing.

As with the polar bear, Ms. Palin’s administration opposed the beluga listing in part because of its potential to restrict coastal and offshore oil and gas development.

In case you’ve never seen Beluga Whales:

[Quote:]

CNN host Rick Sanchez said he was “mystified” by a last minute decision by the McCain campaign to pull a Muslim grassroots organizer from appearing on his show.

The aide, Daniel Zubairi, had been scheduled to appear on Sanchez’s mid-day program after he was caught on video talking down an anti-Muslim protester outside a McCain rally in Woodbridge, Virginia. But, even after telling the network that an interview was “good to go,” the McCain shop pulled Zubairi at the last minute, leaving Sanchez in limbo on live TV.

“Wouldn’t you think they would have wanted him to come on?” the CNN host would later tell the Huffington Post. “What the guy did was courageous. I called him heroic. I’m mystified why they wouldn’t embrace him for his actions.”

[Quote:]

De huizenmarkt komt stil te liggen als de overheid niet snel ingrijpt. Huizenverkopers worstelen met dubbele lasten, terwijl kopers geen hypotheek kunnen krijgen.

Dat stelt Vereniging Eigen Huis, die op de bres springt voor huizenkopers en -verkopers. De overdrachtsbelasting moet van zes naar drie procent verlaagd worden als tijdelijke steunmaatregel voor de woningmarkt. De vereniging vindt dat maatregelen nodig zijn, omdat het consumentenvertrouwen in de woningmarkt snel daalt. “De overheid moet nu over de brug komen”, stelt woordvoerder Hans André de la Porte. “Een deel van de huizenverkopers staat het water aan de lippen en vooral starters hebben veel moeite om een hypotheek los te krijgen. Zo komt de huizenmarkt stil te liggen.”

[..]

Minister Bos van Financiën reageerde gisteren met de opmerking dat hij op dit moment geen mogelijkheden ziet om tegemoet te komen aan de eis van Eigen Huis.

Het ligt er kennelijk maar geheel aan wie het vraagt, want die snelle “nee” is er in het volgende geval duidelijk niet:

[Quote:]

Fortis Bank Nederland blijkt zonder toestemming van de staat tientallen bonussen te hebben toegekend aan de subtop van het bedrijf. Dat gebeurde na de nationalisatie van het bedrijf ruim drie weken geleden. Het bestuur van de bank besloot dinsdag om de bonussen alsnog aan het ministerie van Financiën voor te leggen. Dat wil nog niet zeggen of het voorstel zal worden goedgekeurd. ‘We wachten eerst even af wat ze precies willen’, zegt een woordvoerder.

[Quote:]

[Quote:]

Not socialism:

Welcome to the People’s Republic of Alaska, where every resident this year will get a $3,200 payout, thanks in no small measure to the efforts of Sarah Palin, the state’s Republican governor. That’s $22,400 for a family of seven, like Palin’s. Since 1982, the Alaska Permanent Fund, which invests oil revenues from state lands, has paid out a dividend on invested oil loot to everyone who has been in the state for a year. But Palin upped the ante by joining with Democrats and some recalcitrant Republican state legislators to share in oil company windfall profits, further fattening state tax revenue and permitting an additional payout in tax funds to residents.

Socialism:

Among the more prominent elements of his tax proposal, Senator Obama would end the Bush tax cuts and allow the top two tax rates to return to 36 and 39.6 percent.

I know it is difficult to expect coherence out of a movement whose largest recipient of cheers at a rally is some guy talking out his arse named Joe the Plumber, but we will do our best to keep you up to date on what is and what is not socialism.

[Quote:]

The Republican National Committee has spent more than $150,000 to clothe and accessorize vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and her family since her surprise pick by John McCain in late August.

According to financial disclosure records, the accessorizing began in early September and included bills from Saks Fifth Avenue in St. Louis and New York for a combined $49,425.74.

The records also document a couple of big-time shopping trips to Neiman Marcus in Minneapolis, including one $75,062.63 spree in early September.

The RNC also spent $4,716.49 on hair and makeup through September after reporting no such costs in August.

[..]

“With all of the important issues facing the country right now, it’s remarkable that we’re spending time talking about pantsuits and blouses. It was always the intent that the clothing go to a charitable purpose after the campaign,” said McCain-Palin spokesperson Tracey Schmitt

She’s right, of course, if it weren’t for the $400 dollar haircut jokes earlier in the election season. Because for this amount of money, Edwards could have one of those every week for a bit over seven years.

[Quote:]

Bendy-buses with the slogan “There’s probably no God” could soon be running on the streets of London.

The atheist posters are the idea of the British Humanist Association (BHA) and have been supported by prominent atheist Professor Richard Dawkins.

The BHA planned only to raise £5,500, which was to be matched by Professor Dawkins, but it has now raised more than £36,000 of its own accord.

It aims to have two sets of 30 buses carrying the signs for four weeks.

The comment from Stephen Green of pressure group Christian Voice in the article is priceless: “People don’t like being preached at.”

[Quote:]

Two days after Barack Obama drew 100,000 supporters to a rally in St. Louis, John McCain attracted about 2,500 people to a field in this nearby suburb Monday, a visible symbol of the challenge the Republican nominee faces in this crucial state.

[..]

Carol Wessel, GOP chairman in Lincoln County, insisted McCain would win the state despite losing his lead in polls. She dismissed the low turnout at his morning rally.

“It’s Monday,” she said. “Most people are working.”

[Quote:]

Gov. Sarah Palin charged the state for her children to travel with her, including to events where they were not invited, and later amended expense reports to specify that they were on official business.

The charges included costs for hotel and commercial flights for three daughters to join Palin to watch their father in a snowmobile race, and a trip to New York, where the governor attended a five-hour conference and stayed with 17-year-old Bristol for five days and four nights in a luxury hotel.

It seems ‘ethics’ is optional with the caribou barbi package…