2 things (political things)

I'm going to try to avoid an Andy Rooney-style rant here, but it's going to be tough. 2 things (and to avoid ranting, I'll keep it basic):
1. Postponing the Debate: It's on a Friday night, at 9pm. For 2 hours. Let's even be generous and say that it's 8 hours out of your Friday, with travel & prep included. Congress is not in session on Saturday. John McCain is not going to be burnin' the midnight oil - a one-man congressional wrecking crew - legislatin' an' fillabusterin'. He's going to sit back on his proposal-non-reading ass and prep for a debate which he will assuredly lose.
This whole mess is obviously nothing but a ploy on the part of the McCain campaign to make it look like Obama is only interested in frivolity and public posturing. This undermines the value of the debates. In 2000, and (looking at it after the fact, once Kerry threw this opportunity down the toilet) in 2004, yes, maybe there was little value to these engagements, and yes, 3rd party candidates should have been included. But now more than ever, there are major issues at stake that need clarification and firm stances from both sides of a truly divided aisle. True debate is going to be what saves this country from disaster. Any attempt to forestall is an attempt to undermine the American people, and true Democracy.

2. Financial Bailout: $700 BILLLLLLION. That is more than $2000 to each and every man, woman and child in America.
Do you have $2000? I do not.
I say $2000 to everyone, but I don't know how much that would be to each TAXPAYING American. Let's conservatively (heh.) say it'd be twice that.
I, like most people I know, don't own a house, don't play the stock market, have very little in both my checking and savings accounts, don't own my own business, and have what I consider to be a significant amount of personal debt. My life has been entirely unaffected by the 6th worst day in Wall Street history. I could never afford it.
Now all of a sudden, it's everyone's problem.
This is why we need an Obama White House now more than ever.
We need someone who will even the taxable playing field. We need to make sure that those who make more money need to pay more, and this is case in point: We're all being asked to clean up their mess. And guess what? That's what being a democrat means. We are not fundamentally opposed to bigger government and bailouts and that sort of thing; we're opposed to working class Americans bearing the brunt of the failures of an upper class that can't support its own mistakes, because they've lived off the benefits of tax breaks and loopholes that those of us living paycheck to paycheck are not allowed.
The same people that are supporting this blindly are the same people that say arts education is wasteful spending; that a national railroad is too much government regulation; that allowing the tax benefits of marriage to all is a choice, at best, left up to each state. We all know people who DO own houses, or are trying to buy a house, or maybe have a great deal of savings in a small bank that may be forced to close and offer them 50 cents on the dollar. We are, or we know people who work in banks, or are executive assistants in financial institutions. So it's foolish and shortsighted to oppose this financial bailout.
So the point is simple:
Contact your senators and representatives.
Demand oversight.
Demand an incremental payment plan, not a blank check.
Demand salary caps for Wall Street execs.
You've only got about 24 hours.

...and psst! If Bush hadn't tried twice to earn "please like me" points with refund and economic stimulus checks, we'd already be half way there. If he had ended this war at "Mission Accomplished," we wouldn't even be having this conversation.