FATHER OF HACKER Is Tennessee Dem State Rep!!!!! ...  Update: Name- David Kernell ...Update: He's Been Contacted by Feds!  —  FOLKS— MEET DAVID KERNELL—  WOAH!!!!!!  —  Do you remember this from Michelle Malkin's post last night: … Now there's this...  Wired.com has the latest on the Palin scandal:

McCain Flub?  Republican Says He'd Fire SEC Chair as President  —  ABC News' David Wright reports: At a joint rally in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Thursday, Republican John McCain slammed the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) for being “asleep,” saying that if he were president, he would fire Chris Cox …

What's on the desk  —  In a picture supplied by Sarah Palin's family to the Associated Press, Palin appears with some rather odd reading matter: The magazine of the ultraconservative John Birch Society.  —  The picture, dating to 1995, when Palin was a member of the Wasilla City Council …

Where Next for the Dollar?  18 Sep 2008  —  Is the U.S. government's proposal to take on bad bank assets a good move?  Sharada Selvanathan, currency strategist at BNP Paribas gives her take on how this will affect the dollar, with CNBC's Maura Fogarty & Stephen Sedgwick.

Fed and Treasury Offer to Work With Congress on Bailout Plan  —  WASHINGTON — The head of the Treasury and the Federal Reserve began discussions on Thursday with Congressional leaders on what could become the biggest bailout in United States history.  —  While details remain to be worked out …

SEC Is Set to Issue Temporary Ban Against Short Selling  —  The Securities and Exchange Commission prepared an aggressive assault against short-sellers, saying it would temporarily prevent investors from making bets on stock declines in an attempt to stem some of the worst stock-market slides in years …

Palin disinvited from Iran rally  —  The organizers of an anti-Iran rally Monday rescinded their invitation to Alaska Governor Sarah Palin after Democrats protested that her presence would turn the event into a political rally, McCain campaign and Jewish community sources said.

Energy Expertise  —  Today, the person who “knows more about energy than probably anyone else in the United States of America” let slip some pearls of wisdom: … I'm not sure I fully grasp that, though I am relieved to know that they, whoever they are, don't have to sit around flagging individual molecules all day long.

Bill Clinton: McCain ‘A Great Man’; Praises Wife's, Not Obama's Economic Plan  —  ABC News' Jennifer Parker reports: Former President Bill Clinton has largely kept himself out of the public eye since his wife lost the Democratic primary to Barack Obama.  —  However in a rare television interview tonight …

Shocker: Palin Cancels Big California Swing  —  Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who was to star at two major California fundraisers and an Orange County rally for 15,000 next week, has canceled her two-day swing through the Golden State, campaign sources said.  —  The change is a shocker …

Palin's transparency proposal already exists in D.C.  —  CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (CNN) - Sarah Palin likes to tell voters around the country about how she “put the government checkbook online” in Alaska.  On Thursday, Palin suggested she would take that same proposal to Washington.

‘Gang of 20’ won't offer energy bill  —  A bipartisan group of senators who sought a compromise in the rancorous energy debate won't introduce their bill before lawmakers adjourn for the elections, several Senate aides said Thursday.  —  Instead, the so-called Gang of 20 will offer a statement …

Palin asked daughters on veep vote after they were already in OH for announcement  —  Appearing on Fox last night, Sarah Palin told Sean Hannity a heartwarming story of how she asked her teenage daughters for their opinion before accepting the vp offer.  —  “So ask the girls what they thought …

Records reveal Palin's push for earmarks  —  As a vice presidential candidate, Gov. Sarah Palin has railed against federal earmarks, or congressional funding for pork-barrel projects.  “In our state, we reformed the abuses of earmarks,” Palin recently boasted to a rally in Lancaster, Pa. …

Obama Is Stoking Racial Antagonism  —  I understand the rough and tumble of politics.  But Barack Obama — the supposedly postpartisan, postracial candidate of hope and change — has gone where few modern candidates have gone before.  —  Mr. Obama's campaign is now trafficking in prejudice of its own making.

Obama denies Raines ties, accuses McCain of throwing stones from his “seven glass houses”  —  The campaign puts out a statement from former Fannie Mae chief Franklin Raines, disowning ties to Obama, after a McCain ad attacked him for the ties.  —  The Washington Post reported …

Obama outraged at being accused of not supporting something he doesn't support  —  Obama, on the trail in New Mexico, had this to say of McCain:  —  “And today he accused me of not supporting what the Treasury and the Federal Reserve Bank did with AIG despite no evidence whatsoever that that's what I had said.”

KEITH OLBERMANN: I happend to catch the very beginning of “Countdown” with Keith Olbermann.  His lead story was on John McCain's statement that if he were President he would “fire” Chris Cox as Chairman of the SEC, explaining that the Chairman of the FTC is appointed by and serves at the will of the President.