Markets down again after fed provides $85B bridge loan to AIG for an 80% stake in the company.

Ahnold is vetoing the CA budget . CA AG and former Gov. Jerry Brown called the budget "a mess" and said the budget sent to the governor's desk does not solve the state's financial crisis and only pushes the problems into next year. Schwarzenegger had urged lawmakers to come up with long-term solutions.

Open thread -- what's on your mind as we hit the middle of another eventful week?

Obviously the stock market news from yesterday is still hot, so there isn't much else on the radar.

In California news, the state legislature has passed a compromise spending bill -- the latest any such bill has been passed. Gov. Schwarzenegger has vowed to veto the bill because it does not go far enough to cover a $17 billion shortfall. However, the veto may be overridden by the legislature as a 2/3 majority is needed to both pass a budget bill and override a veto.

Bankruptcy for Lehman ? Lots of activity yesterday. Lots of problems with big Finance. AIG asks Fed for money. The problems keep popping up and the resolution never comes.

More on this matter here and here and here and beyond with link after link. Big news.

Add updates and tidbits at your leisure.

This will give you a headache: Apeman Hannity arguing with Chicken Little Obama Supporter . Somewhere between Hannity's chest-beating and Kuttner's doom and gloom lies some truth. Too bad we'll never hear about it.

Update in the Lehman affair.

From Megan McArdle :

Sandra Tsing-Loh is shocked and hurt that Obama sends his daughters to an expensive private school rather than the local public schools.

Said Sandra:

The news today will be dominated by 9/11 ceremonies .

Open thread -- what's on your mind?

Some non-political news: the Large Hadron Collider had a successful test run, Lehman announced a huge loss a day after its stock plummeted, and cyclist Lance Armstrong is un-retiring with plans to compete in the 2009 Tour de France.

Open thread -- what's happening today?

Oil is at a 5-month low , so OPEC might think about cutting production.
President Bush is going to withdraw about 8000 troops from Iraq and send them to Afghanistan.

What'd I miss?

Z42IYM Very neat article.Really thank you! Want more.

So McCain and Obama will do a joint event on 9/11. Good idea?

In the meantime former Hurrican Hanna is dumping a lot of rain on us here in the North East. Have a great weekend!

Nothing doing in the news other than the Republican convention, which we all know what's going on over there.

My car is fixed, and I'm back home in Sandusky. Otherwise, I've got nothing.

Anything I missed?

Palin's speech was aggressive and well-delivered. Here is a fact check of her and the other speakers yesterday. McCain is up tonight.

Detroit Mayor Kilpatrick is stepping down after pleading guilty to charges stemming from an affair with a subordinate.

The NFL season kicks off with the champion NY Giants facing the Washington Redskins tonight. Open thread...

The RNC kicked off main events yesterday with speeches from Bush, Fred Thompson, and Lieberman. Tonight Palin will speak; I predict lots of interest from both the right and the left in what she'll say.

The Bush admin is planning an aid package for Georgia, up to $1 billion for reconstruction that could potentially include military aid.

Open thread. What's on your mind this Wednesday?

Jake Tapper, hardest working man in the 08 cycle, continues his
coverage of the ever declining mental faculties of Joe Biden,
Senator. For all the coverage given the family affairs of
Governor Sarah Palin, precious little has been given to the
rambling, bizarre statements of Smilin' Joe Biden since his
convention speech. And there's so much good stuff here, too! Just
the other day in Florida, for example, where he went on a 75 minute
riff:

Gustav thankfully appears to have been weaker than expected, and there seems to have been good preparation at all levels, from individual to state to federal. Damage is still being assessed.

The Republican convention will resume as planned. Yesterday there were protests at which a small "splinter group" [that's the police term] of anarchists began damaging property and were arrested .

This is kind of cool: a field designed so that special-needs kids, including those in wheelchairs, can play baseball . From the article: Smith helped raise some of the half-million dollars in private and county funding needed to build the field in 2004. She said she gets goosebumps whenever she watches the young players come across home plate. "The grin and smile on their faces just says it all."

Open thread -- what's happening today?

Scores of people who were apparently planning to protest the RNC's visit to the twin cities were arrested on Friday. The information is still sketchy at this point, but a joint St. Paul-FBI task force entered several homes with no-knock warrants and SWAT gear to detain and question members of "Food Not Bombs" and the "RNC Welcoming Committee". Of over 50 people detained, only 3 were eventually charged with a crime -- conspiracy to incite a riot. Others were preliminarily charged with fire code violations. Links:

Star Tribune
Salon (w/video)
NY Times

Today also starts the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Promoted by John

Does Sarah Palin believe in evolution?

Numerous bloggers have been asking variants of this question since Palin was selected as McCain's running mate. There are two issues here:

• what does she believe?
• to what extent does it matter?

54rDz5 I think this is a real great blog.Really thank you! Fantastic.

Reason has some great shots all day from Invesco Field: 1 , 2 , 3 (Edited by Brendan to replace pics with links now that event is over)

See their Convention Coverage and more photos . LOTSA people.

I love the one recurring sentence in almost every posting:

"All these people are here to see a POLITICIAN give a speech."

They love stressing that mundane fact.

But anyway,

The floor is yours. Throw your Convention and Speech thoughts here.

YES WE CAN!! hehehe