BREVITAS

THE CRASH

Chrystia Freeland, Financial Times - Central casting could not have produced a more perfect Republican financier than Mr Paulson, the jock from small-town Illinois who rose to run Goldman Sachs. Yet, in dollar terms, he now seems set to preside over a more massive nationalization of assets than Vladimir Putin. The country's capital markets became a lot less free this week with the Securities and Exchange Commission's ban on short-selling - and the main criticism was that the restriction should have come sooner. . .

Ronald Reagan's shadow has loomed large this year. In the spring, Mr Obama earned post-partisan points, and the wrath of the Clintons, by naming the Gipper as the most significant president in recent times. In St Paul, the Republicans defined Mr McCain as a foot soldier in the Reagan Revolution. But on September 15 2008 the Reagan era officially came to an end. The sunny confidence in the superiority of the American way has been undermined now not only by Guantanomo and Abu Ghraib but also by the fact that this financial crisis has its epicenter on Wall Street, not Moscow, Mexico City or Mumbai.

Washington Post - An article about health care published in an obscure journal led to a new skirmish Saturday between the campaigns of Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain over who should be trusted with the ailing economy. . . The article was published in Contingencies magazine, which is produced under the auspices of the American Association of Actuaries. In it, McCain touted his plans for increasing competition in health care as one way to expand coverage and reduce costs. McCain wrote, "Opening up the health insurance market to more vigorous nationwide competition, as we have done over the last decade in banking, would provide more choices of innovative products less burdened by the worst excesses of state-based regulation." Obama, appearing at Bethune-Cookman University in Daytona Beach, Fla., mocked his rival . . . "So let me get this straight -- he wants to run health care like they've been running Wall Street."

OUTLYING PRECINCTS

Mother Jones - The Democratic National Committee, using publicly available records, has identified 177 lobbyists working for the McCain campaign as either aides, policy advisers, or fundraisers. Of those 177 lobbyists, according to a Mother Jones review of Senate and House records, at least 83 have in recent years lobbied for the financial industry McCain now attacks. . . Their clients have included AIG, the newest symbol of corporate excess; Lehman Brothers, which filed for bankruptcy on Monday sending the stock market into a tailspin; Merrill Lynch, which was bought out by Bank of America this week; and Washington Mutual, the banking giant that could be the next to fall. Among these 83 lobbyists are McCain's chief political adviser, Charlie Black (JP Morgan, Washington Mutual Bank, Freddie Mac, Mortgage Bankers Association of America); McCain's national finance co-chairman, Wayne Berman (AIG, Blackstone, Credit Suisse, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac); the campaign's congressional liaison, John Green (Carlyle Group, Citigroup, Icahn Associates, Fannie Mae); McCain's veep vetter, Arthur Culvahouse (Fannie Mae); and McCain's transition planning chief, William Timmons Sr. (Citigroup, Freddie Mac, Vanguard Group).

Elizabeth Edwards talked with Free press medical writer Patricia Anstett the other day. She describes her philosophy of living with advanced breast cancer. Diagnosed in 2004, the cancer recurred in 2007 and has moved to her bones. Edwards also tells how she copes with loss of fidelity and trust in her marriage. She says she and her husband aren’t a perfect couple and there is no perfection in life. Edwards declines to address whether she has gotten over her husband’s affair. She compares any loss to losing a leg. You can learn to walk without one, but it always will be a part of you. Interesting snippets

ECO CLIPS

Ecotality - Manure from a herd of 3,900 dairy cows will be used in Ohio’s first-ever project to capture methane from manure for generation of electricity. Buckeye Power, Inc. has started purchasing cow manure produced power from Bridgewater Dairy in northern Ohio, to provide green energy to the state’s 24 electric cooperatives. While Ohio is certainly not the first to utilize cow manure for this purpose, they are also considering a second biodigester generation system using waste from a poultry farm.

MONEY & WORK

Wall Street Journal - One symptom of these times: a surge in the number of million-dollar foreclosures. According to RealtyTrac, the number of homes valued at more than $1 million that are in some stage of foreclosure has swelled to 7,968 between January and August. That compares with 4,214 during the same period last year. The number of $2 million-plus homes in the process of foreclosure has grown even faster, surging to 499 in the year-to-date compared with 201 for the same period last year. Home values are based on comparable, recent sales in the neighborhoods.

DRUG BUSTS

Steven Wishnia, AlterNet - One 2006 study called cannabis the top cash crop in the nation, worth more than corn and wheat combined. It was the leading crop in 12 states, outstripping grapes in California and tobacco in North Carolina, and one of the top three in 18 others, coming in just behind apples in Washington and cotton in Georgia. . . As the U.S. marijuana market is illegal, there are no sales figures. Estimates of its size range from $10.5 billion a year to $113 billion. But three studies done by economists and policy analysts say ganja taxes could bring in anywhere from $2.4 billion to $31.1 billion in revenue, depending on how big the sales really are. About one-third of that would go to the states. . . A 2005 study by Harvard economics professor Jeffrey A. Miron, makes the most conservative projections of the three studies. It calculates possible pot tax revenues at $2.4 billion.

RECOVERED HISTORY

DYLAN & BAEZ SING AT THE 1963 CIVIL RIGHTS MARCH

ARTS & CULTURE

Open Rights Group, UK - Last month the UK Intellectual Property Office asked for comments on the European Commission's proposal to almost double the term of copyright protection on sound recordings. The Commission's proposal is flimsy, misleading, and peppered with contradictions. Our submission [pdf] asks the UKIPO to reject it in the strongest terms. Our submission shows that for the vast majority of performers the projected extra sales income resulting from term extension is likely to be meager: from as little as 50¢ each year in the first ten years, to as "much" as E26.79 each year. That's because most of the gains (89.5%) will go to the top 20% of recording artists.