I know I’ve personally stopped drinking bottled water as much as I can. There just doesn’t seem to be much point to it here in the US. Sure, I can understand for personal and public emergencies, but regular personal use just seems like a waste anymore.
What do you think?

With new questions about massive credit card debt and unpaid taxes, and questions still looming as to where Cindy invests her money and why she won’t fully disclose her tax returns, the McCain camp is becoming increasingly nervous that the lack of transparency may hurt them come this fall.
Politico points out why this matters…
During the [...]

Obama’s play for the evangelical vote continues…but, unlike his predecessor, he’s less interested in what faith can do and much more interested in how the faithful can help.
From AP:
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is announcing plans to expand President Bush’s program steering federal social service dollars to religious groups and — in a move sure [...]

Emboldened by the recent 2nd amendment ruling, the National Rifle Association will spend $40M this fall, $15M of which will be used to paint Obama with the usual gun hating colors.
Anybody want to bet they’ll use Obama’s “bitter” comments against him?
Oh wait…they already have:
“Our members understand that if Barack Obama is elected president, and he [...]

From 69.1% in 2005 to 67.8% this year, which is the biggest decline in two decades.
NY Times explains the human costs:
For many minority and lower-income families who viewed homeownership as a stepping stone to building wealth and passing it on to their children, the transition from owning to renting has been the unraveling of a [...]

Actually, Barack took $21.9 million and John took $20.9, but what’s $1 million in a campaign season?
Here’s more about their cash on hand…
McCain reported having about $32 million in cash for primary-related expenses at the end of May.
Obama reported having $43 million in hand at the start of June — but about $10 million [...]

More evidence that Obama is backing up his pledge to go after these groups, although this one was much easier given the fact that they endorsed him. Also, it doesn’t mean that MoveOn won’t be spending money…just much, much less.
Still, TPM finds that the implications are far reaching…
MoveOn, the advocacy group supporting Barack Obama, has [...]

Unsurprisingly, John McCain is wasting no time in criticizing Barack Obama over the Illinois senator’s decision to renege on a campaign promise and turn down public funding. McCain said:
”This election is about a lot of things, but it’s also about trust. It’s also about whether you can take people’s word. … He said he would [...]

This is his announcement…

If everybody remembers correctly, what Obama pledged to do was sit down and try to come to an agreement with McCain on public financing. This never happened between McCain and Obama themselves, but their campaigns talked.
Rightfully so, McCain’s camp is attacking this reversal…
“Today, Barack Obama has revealed himself to be just another [...]

Why?
I’ll give you one guess…
LONDON (Reuters) - Oil surged to a new record high on Monday of nearly $140 a barrel, propelled by weakness in the U.S. dollar which offset the bearish impact of plans by Saudi Arabia to boost output.
Folks, how much longer can we ignore that our monetary losses and oil prices gains [...]

He’ll be accused of offering the typical Democratic tax and spend plans, but with the housing market tanking because of free market loopholes and the prices of basic goods skyrocketing due in part of out of control war spending, I’m thinking the middle class would appreciate some fiscal attention refocused on their needs.
From the AP:
Speaking [...]

We’re spending our money to help them build nuclear energy plants?
Why?
Yes, I realize they’re a friend, but let’s not forget that Saudi Arabia is not a democracy and giving them nuclear energy, when they could be one of the biggest users of solar energy with as much sun as they get, doesn’t make really make [...]

I think yes. McCain thinks no.
First, his side…

Now, mine…
Once again it appears that McCain is trying to reframe the goal of the surge by saying it’s a success because fewer troops are getting killed. And while he’s correct that casualty rates are dropping, our men and women are still dying at an average of 1 [...]

How did the BBC find out what happened to untold billions in Iraq, but we somehow haven’t yet?

I’ll be checking this out later tonight, so I’ll have more thoughts then.

The WSJ reports that some savvy homeowners are buying new homes in the same neighborhood that are far cheaper, and then walking away from their old homes and letting them fall into foreclosure.
The practice is called buy and bail, and while some call it fraud, I call it just desserts for the mortgage companies.
As one [...]

Apparently, the BBC has been able to find where some of it went…
The search for the missing billions also led the programme to a house in Acton in West London where Hazem Shalaan lived until he was appointed to the new Iraqi government as minister of defence in 2004.
He and his associates siphoned an estimated [...]

And this idea comes from no less than the Conservative government…
Canadians will be offered bicycles, public transit passes or cash if they agree to scrap their old gas-guzzling vehicles, the government said on Wednesday.
Ottawa says five million of the 18 million cars and trucks in Canada were made before 1996, when tougher emissions standards were [...]

Folks, $4 gas isn’t going away any time soon.
From the AP:
NEW YORK (AP) - Oil prices made their biggest single-day leap ever Friday—clearing $139, dragging the Dow Jones industrials down nearly 400 points and raising the once-unthinkable prospect of $150 oil and even higher gas prices by the Fourth of July.
The meteoric rise of nearly [...]

…if the RNC will keep their spending in check.
To what degree isn’t quite clear, but now that Obama is the general election candidate, he’s honoring his promise to try and work out a deal with McCain.
From USA Today:
Obama said he’ll accept public financing for his campaign — which would limit the amount of [...]

Well, at least some of them…
Barack Obama’s campaign is open to paying off some of the more than $20 million in debt accrued by defeated rival Hillary Clinton, a top adviser said.
“Certainly that is something that would be on the table,” the adviser, former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, told Bloomberg News reporters and editors [...]