Some good economic news, durable goods orders increased in September.

Yesterday Betsy’s Blog commented on the conviction of Senator Ted Stevens on corruption charges.  She has a very good take on the story:

Ted Stevens is one GOP senator I certainly won’t miss.  The Washington Post points out the pettiness of the gifts that Stevens has been convicted of accepting.

The amount of freebies that Mr. Stevens accepted to renovate his Alaska “chalet” is significant, but the individual components — a Viking grill, a vibrating Shiatsu massage lounger, a five-foot steel sculpture of migrating salmon — underscore the petty needlessness of Mr. Stevens’s crime.

It brings to mind one of the great lines that Sir Thomas More speaks in A Man for All Seasons.

Why Richard, it profits a man nothing to give his soul for the whole world… but for Wales?

Senator Stevens, you gave up your integrity for a Shiatsu massage lounger?

I think that pretty much sums of why Republicans will lose many seats in next Tuesday’s election.

The George Mason University Economics Department has a good website called Econtalk.org, which offers weekly podcasts with talks on various economic issues.  Last month it had a very good one on the workings of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.  If you want a non-technical explanation of the recent demise of these two institutions I would recommend listening to it.

Michelle Malkin has a great post today recapping the media bias against John McCain and their fawning over Barack Obama over the past year.

The latest uproar over the people Barack Obama chooses to spend time with is Rashid Khalidi—a former spokesman for the PLO.  The controversy is a reported tape of Sen. Obama at a farewell dinner for Mr. Khalidi at the University of Chicago.  Sen. Obama says he attended because they were both on the faculty at the university.  Also at the party was William Ayers.  My question is there are hundred of professors at the University of Chicago—did every one of them attend?  If it is the case that every professor attends a farewell party for a departing colleague then this would not be a big deal.  I bet that only close friends attend such functions.  Another question is why does Senator Obama seem to choose to spend time with people who hate the United States?  As a politician one has to spend time with people you don’t like or agree with in order to help your career.  What I wonder is how does Mr. Ayers and Mr. Khalidi help further Sen. Obama’s political career?  Would such radicals associate with politicians they don’t agree with?  Maybe if he was running for a local election, but when you are running for the Senate it doesn’t make much sense.  Either Sen. Obama is not very political astute or he spends time with them because he favors their causes.  It is something Senator Obama needs to address before the election.