I even called my two senators (Murray and Cantwell) today. Most of the faxes were campaigns thanks to Mish, but I’ve also been urged on by Jesse, Karl, and others - and I’ve even authored a few originals. It helps that I was able to script the delivery of a single letter to multiple senators using some Python and MetroFax.

Admittedly, sending faxes from your house isn’t much work for political activism. Nontheless, few things have compelled me to action as much as the recent fear mongering and insanity aimed at bailing out the rich few on the backs of the ordinary. Senator, Haste Makes Waste. The American economy is strong and resilient. The key to that strength is the creativity, flexibility, and hard labor of American citizens. The key to that strength is the belief that tomorrow is a new opportunity to improve and prosper and that opportunity is unburdened by the sins of the past.

The following text was reproduced with permission from Mish. If this compels you, this should also. Act now! This was the fastest way to spread the word. I have faxed my senators (and those below). I encourage you to do the same. Fate May Rest With Shelby CNBC is reporting Fate of Bailout May Rest With Republican Sen. Shelby. Many members of the U.S. Senate blasted the Bush administration's Wall Street bailout plan Tuesday, but no senator has come forward so far with an explicit pledge to kill the $700 billion proposal.

My co-worker Chris and I just finished our 3-country press and analyst tour. We were in Hong Kong for 5 days, Tokyo for 2 and Seoul for 2. It was my first press tour and a good experience. The last day was especially interesting as I went on a customer visit to some Korean scientific agencies and then they took me out for sushi. It was a lot of fun to build a personal relationship with people from a different culture.

There’s no doubt that I feel quite a bit of buyer’s remorse. It goes up and down - on some days I’m flush with pride and confidence in my move to product management and other days I feel foolish, jealous, angry, and very insecure. In general, I have to admit, I’m feeling insecure about a lot of things. I don’t know if it is a natural biological time (i.e. just turned 30) or if I’ve been socially conditioned to be reflective and introspective - or finally, if there are simply too many unsettled changes going on in my life.

Somehow, I happened on the blog of Michael “Mish” Shedlock - everything must be taken with a grain of salt, of course, but I think a lot of his analysis is spot on. I’ve also started following some articles on http://seekingalpha.com/ as I try to make sense of the current investment climate. Being in the middle-class, capital preservation is very important in volatile times - otherwise there will be nothing to invest when the market rebounds.