Life stories ...

This is a very interesting version of McCain's life story. It may be a bit biased, but still makes very interesting reading. It suggests that McCain's erratic behavior far from being recent is actually a character trait that would have been self evident to anyone who cared to look, and dates back more than 30 years. And this article suggests that three crashes early in his career led Navy officials to question or fault his judgment, leading the LA Times to conclude he was cocky, occasionally cavalier and prone to testing limits.

More on McCain: in this post, McCain discusses his assessment of Osama Bin Laden as a threat in 1998. His assessment? Well, he didn't think much of Osama as a threat, unlike Clinton and Biden. Remember, he pooh poohed Obama's suggestion that the US should focus on Osama, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Meanwhile, Sarah Palin continues to astonish. First, there is troopergate, which is still ongoing and a report is due in weeks. Then there is her astonishing suggestion in the VP debates that may be the role of the Vice President should be expanded. Then, she appeared to suggest that she sided with Cheney, that the VP was a member of the legislature and yet not, thereby suggesting wiggle room. This is an extraordinary expansion of the Vice President's powers. Now, in this article, it seems that Palin has been allegedly attempting to avoid the disclosure and transparency laws in Alaska by using her private email account for official business. If this sounds reminiscent, this was exactly how Cheney and Bush avoided indictment so far, by deleting all the emails and by using the GOP mailbox rather than the government mailbox for official business.