Good day to you all on this day of the second Presidential 'debate.'  We will be watching--mainly to see if Obama wakes up.  I expect he will and I expect another triumph of style over substance.

Actually, Katrina vanden Heuvel has a slightly different take on Mitt Romney and a highly accurate one.  I agree.  Romney's campaign is deeply insulting.  He is a cipher with no ethical ballast.  He has no real fundamental philosophy.  What he has is a history of shifting positions none of them sincerely held.  He has something else as well: a hope that we will forget all of the contradictions and take him at his word; his word at the moment he utters what he thinks we want to hear.  And a hope that we will forget his word that indicates he supports something we don't want to hear or a policy that will royally screw us in the 47% he so disdains.

Interesting story this morning said a company has plans to build a plant in southern Illinois to harvest and process Asian carp.  The fish has been at the center of several legal actions between various states and Illinois over the last few years.  Michigan and other great lakes states fear the carp would invade the lakes and destroy native fish their sport fishing industries depend on.  I rather think they would also like to force Illinois to close the locks on the Illinois River because that would hit Chicago's role as a transportation hub forcing shippers to use other ports in other states--Illinois/Chicago takes a hit and they get a benefit.  However, I have often thought they should find commercial uses for the fish and exploit it as a resource--if you can't beat it, eat it.