Oh yes, the economy is just wonderful. Super. Keep cranking out those wonderful Whizbanger truths, people.

Yeah, yeah, Astigafa, the economy sucks. We understand, yea verily, and it will sucketh mightily until a DEMOCRAT has the exact same conditions, at which point you would be singing and shouting Hosannas about how heavenly and wonderful it all is!

I swear, it's a friggin' religion that things suck now worse than the Great Depression. So, would you be kind enough to put up linkage to hard facts which support your dismal viewpoint?

astigafa, I think its so cute how you willingly ignore all the actual facts about the economic performance of the nation to cling to your delusions.

What's absolutely sick and demented about Liberals is that they postively pray for the demise of the country as a whole either economically or at war or BOTH just BECAUSE a REPUBLICAN is the President.

It's postively sickening and you know-dare I say it-emblematic of a mental disorder. Harsh- I know- but what the the hell else explains it?

As to the Steelers brand article, it articulates what I see and experience. The team embodies the city's self image. If you are from Pittsburgh it is automatically assumed that you bleed back and gold.

The Rooney's have done unintentionally, at least initially. They had the team represent their values and vision. The constency of the Rooney's vision and execution has allowed this.

I have been a Steelers fan since I was a ten-year old (now 42) and never lived or had family who lived in Pittsburgh until I met my wife.

My wife of almost twenty years is born and bred there. We live in Ohio yet the ties to the black and gold go deep in that my teenage daughters, who have never lived in Pittsburgh either, but by my wife's family's indoctrination are religously committed fans.

One of my wife's greatest admiration for the team is no cheerleaders. Dan Rooney recently said about the short lived Steelerettes, "The TV Cameras liked them, but we take our football seriously in Pittsburgh. We just didn't need them," The clarity of vision is what builds a great team and a brand.

If inflation was measured the same way it was measured when Jimmy Carter was president, inflation today is worse than it was during his administration. You can thank the Clintons for making the "official" inflation numbers laughable. So those 160,000 new burger flipping and bedpan changing jobs in September aren't really keeping up.

As for the economy:

$98 oil, and rising quickly.
$4 gasoline and $5 heating oil to follow.

A dollar that's losing 1% of its value a day. That can't be good if you're paid in dollars.

$1 trillion and counting in bad subprime and Alt A loans. No one knows how this will play out.

Anyone who wants to be president under these circumstances is a bonafide idiot. But we have dozens of idiots running.

I notice that Jayson's posts are getting shorter and shorter. He must be running out of statistics to cherry pick.

Hooverville! The sky is falling! Chomsky!