Does it matter to you if these allegations are just as subjective as those used in the Kerry Swiftboat personal character destruction?

If swiftboating McCain is necessary in order for Barack Obama to win, would you support the Vietnam Veterans Against John McCain 527 advertising fund?

Or, are you instead, a decent, take the high-road, Democrat?

Have you seen this 60 second commercial that is running all day today across America?

No? Then, watch it now.

Oilman, T. Boone Pickens, has thrown his hat into the Presidential ring.

And, T. Boone Pickens means business. Figuratively and literally.

This Diary is the Mothership that points to a series of Live-Blogging Discussions.

Please DO RECOMMEND this Mothership Diary.

To join the discussion, click on the oldest live link, below.

It was a big day today on Wall Street. A lot of stuff happened, including what was unthinkable just a few months ago -- oil broke a price record. No one know how high it will go, but some insiders expect it to reach $150 per barrel in the foreseeable future.

Oil hits $120 a barrel milestone

The price of a barrel of oil has risen above $120 for the first time, driven by concerns about the situations in Nigeria and northern Iraq.

US light sweet crude rose to a record of $120.36 a barrel in morning trading in New York before falling back to $119.84, up $3.52 on the day.

Another factor pushing up the oil price has been the US dollar's weakness as investors opt to back commodities.

Yesterday, during the Pennsylvania primaries, there was a run on food down the street at my local Costco. Meanwhile, oil started reaching for $120 per barrel -- and most of my fellow commodity investors see $150 per barrel before the end of the year.

US: Costco CEO Points To Rising Demand For Rice, Flour

James Sinegal, CEO of Costco Wholesale, has said that the warehouse club chain has noticed unusual demand for certain products such as rice and flour, as concerned customers stock up on basic items. In an interview with Reuters, Sinegal said Costco had seen increased demand over the past 10 days for such items, and some of its stores have now put limits on the sales of these items.

Sinegal said he believed the surge in demand was prompted by media reports discussing rising global demand and shortages in some countries for basic food items like rice and flour. He indicated the company was well-equipped to deal with the demand, adding "If we run out, we're usually back in stock the next day”.

Calling all tech-smart Kossacks. I could sure use a little advice about staying in touch while traveling internationally. Bring me up to date, please.

I need a cell phone (or collection of cell phones, or sims, or bluetooth laptop systems) that work in the US and elsewhere in the world.

What do the global business travelers and politicians use? How do they communicate? What would you use?

Some of my destinations include Panama, Canada, Eurozone, Japan, China, Mexico, New Zealand, and Dubai.

Thanks in advance.

Your Bonus Report lies below the fold.

The buzz on all the cable money channels is today's headline in The Wall Street Journal. And, boy are the pundits depressed. Grab a box of Kleenex and check out CNBC.

Stocks Tarnished By 'Lost Decade'

U.S. Shares in Longest Funk Since 1970s;  Credit Crunch Could Prolong Weakness

Over the past 200 years, the stock market's steady upward march occasionally has been disrupted for long stretches, most recently during the Great Depression and the inflation-plagued 1970s. The current market turmoil suggests that we may be in another lost decade.

The stock market is trading right where it was nine years ago. Stocks, long touted as the best investment for the long term, have been one of the worst investments over the nine-year period, trounced even by lowly Treasury bonds.

Do you know how much this sucks? If you have a retirement account, you probably do. Let's look at some charts:

I am not Pluto.  I am ek hornbeck and I applaud Pluto for donating this diary so I can mouth off and make my marks as substitute for dmsilev in today's (now) FAQ Forum:

Pluto has graciously donated her diary but she is not me.

ek hornbeck here.

Get used to it.

It's going to a troubling stock market tomorrow, so I thought I'd cruise around the US business news and see what Americans are going to read tomorrow. My favorite, so far, is this gem from the Washington Post. I won't rant on for too long 'cause this Diary will be added to the shitpile in about twenty minutes or so. But, for the business crowd still online, enjoy:

Washington Post, January 28, 2008 -- "In 2007, acquisitions in the United States by foreign ventures hit $407 billion, up 93 percent from the previous year, according to Thomson Financial. The top countries investing were Canada, Britain and Germany; the Middle East and Asia -- especially China -- are quickly catching up.

"The biggest deals in recent months have involved Wall Street firms hit by losses from exposure to mortgage-related investment vehicles.... The sovereign wealth fund that invests the Chinese government's hard currency is injecting $5 billion into Morgan Stanley, while Citic Securities, a private Chinese firm, is investing $1 billion in Bear Stearns."

Did you know that some of the greatest wealth has been grown during times of recession? There are some really smart ways to adjust your economic "thinking" so that you can trust your investment instincts. There are also some smart things you can do.

Daily Kos readers have an advantage over any blog I read, including the economic blogs. Here's why:  Some of the most knowledgeable economic watchers in the world are gathered here, more or less at the same time. You can tell they are pros, because they never, ever give investment advice.

I, on the other hand -- well, you just can't shut me up. Thus, it's risky to read on past here.

Everyone is getting moderately freaked about the inexorable creep of the sub-prime derivitive collapse that is damaging almost every aspect of the US economy -- and to a lesser degree, the world economy, as well. You can't pick up a newspaper (or read a blog) without missing the "The Broken Economy Story" of 2008 -- and the damage it does to the Republicans hopes for the 2008 Presidential election.

I read world business news pretty much all day long. I don't think anyone is at all mystified about how this happened -- and no economist questions the fact that the developmentally disabled son of the inbred Bush family, George, is the imbecile who brought this on.

Over at Freeper, however, the moron wannabe whistleblowers have started a "group project" to uncover "important" documents that will prove that Bill Clinton caused the Sub-Prime Meltdown. This is both hilarious and very very sad -- thus, I feel I must share it with you guys.

Seriously. Could you?

Now, I am not criticizing anyone's beliefs -- not any ordinary citizen's beliefs, faith, or mysticism. I mean, I'll be the first to confess my true cosmology, since I'm not trying to become the "leader of the free world."

Here goes:  I have a couple of "spiritual lackies" who do my bidding; and arrange my future. All I have to do is "show them what it looks like" by visualizing my desires as a fete accomplis -- and they get the job done. They are lackies because they are in a dimension beneath me, and thus, they rely on completing the tasks I give them in order to evolve beyond their current plane. They get depressed if I ignore them for long periods. You could say, I am their "god."

Do you know anyone running for President who believes something less "tangible" or more "subjective" than me?

What follows is a brief review and quotes from an article from James Howard Kunstler, dealing with ideas about a post-oil society. I'm certain it's been Diaried before.

You can read the entire article at The Canadian. In fact, I suggest you do read the article. I'm publishing only brief clips of his ideas here. There are actually many sources, but I thought for those who need a break from campaign diaries, this would serve.

1. Expand your view beyond the question of how we will run all the cars by means other than gasoline. This obsession with keeping the cars running at all costs could really prove fatal. ... The bottom line of this is: start thinking beyond the car. We have to make other arrangements for virtually all the common activities of daily life.

What follows are some random snippets from the dozens of private newsletters I receive everyday in the course doing buisness. They are in no particular order, just fragments that jumped out at me that I wanted to share with you guys. Each snippet comes from a different source. Of course, I have my own opinions, but why don't we listen to the buzz amongst the investment pros, for now:

Lower interest rate cuts don't revive the DOW anymore. Indeed, the anticipation of rate cuts causes giddy hysteria which, when the actual cuts are discussed, turns sour as investors realize that this nostrum won't nos or strum.... I also speculate that the rate cuts by the Fed this last 4 months is directly feeding the gold bubble. This is very much like the economy before Volker and Carter forced interest rates up and up and up until it killed inflation and the gold bubble.

The author goes on to note that only Carter (and a few courageous Presidents before him) had a clue about the bigger picture, and bascially saved the American economy from serious harm by taking uncomfortable measures during his own term.

And right on schedule. I predict, starting in January and enduring throughout 2008, the Economy and its little sisters:  Health Care, Unemployment, and Inflation will become the topic of the year for everyday Americans. And not just for the middle class (who are now the "new poor," of course). The pain will be felt most sharply by the upper-middle class, who are likely to tumble faster and further. This one transcends political affiliation.

I am not predicting an economic collapse in 2008. Believe me, there is much manipulation going on among the world's central banks to keep the overall US economy stable -- at least at the asset-value level (sans homeowner-type real estate). The plunge of the Dollar may actually level out a bit, despite the dismal reality-based fundamentals. And that will happen by design. The Plutocrats have some control over the economic buoyancy of the US -- and they've got all their fingers in the dyke, standing firm to gain Republican electoral traction until after November 2008. Meanwhile, they continue to move all of their wealth offshore as fast as they can. But more on that another time...

[UPDATE:  Check out the comments from the Right, at the bottom. Very Droll Amusement.]

In Sunday's Washington Post, the following article appears:

Get Ready for a Democratic Era.

Authors, John B. Judis and Ruy Teixeira, describe the political and social set-up for this new "era":

Karl Rove's grandest aspiration was to create a Republican majority that would dominate American politics for a generation or more. But as the effects of his distinctive brand of fear-mongering fade, it's the Democrats who are poised to become the country's majority party -- and perhaps for a long time to come.

Many conservatives have insisted that the Democrats' wins in the 2006 midterm elections, as well as their recent pickups in some 2007 races, were mere blips. They wish. Political, ideological, demographic and economic trends are all leading toward durable Democratic majorities in Congress, control of most statehouses and, very possibly, the end of the decades-old GOP hammerlock on the electoral college.

They expand on this prediction, below:

And, so it should be. Self-described Democrats are generally better educated than Republicans, and they are more likely to view society as an interrelated system that is as strong as its weakest links. Thus, Democrats are more inclined to care about the health and welfare their fellowman.

According to a recent Heritage Foundation study, Democrats control the majority of the country's wealthiest congressional jurisdictions. Most of Americas wealthiest households are located in the 18 states where Democrats control both Senate seats. The Heritage Foundation looked at two categories of taxpayers: single filers with income above $100,000 and married filers with income above $200,000.

Are they wealthy because they are Democrats?

Or, are they Democrats because they are wealthy?