The special runoff election for Louisiana's 2nd District is this Saturday, Dec. 6.

Malik Rahim is running for Congress  on the Green platform against incumbent William Jefferson, he of "money on ice" fame from a Congressional office refrigerator bulging with Ben Franklins.

But, this post is about change, not the same old, same old.

Per Rahim's campaign bio:

Malik Rahim is the founder of Common Ground Collective Under Malik's leadership, the Common Ground Collective opened the first free health clinic in the city of New Orleans, helped reopen schools, gutted over 3,000 homes that needed repair in the Ninth Ward of New Orleans, and provided direct services to nearly 200,000 returning residents.

You can learn more about Rahim here and contribute to his campaign here.

This is a chance to help elect a truly independent voice to Congress.

He can still use your money (he's already gotten some of mine) or other help, such as doing GOTV calls.

First, the fact that Moody's, Fitch's etc get paid for proffering their ratings advice is nothing new.

I blogged about that and its incestuous results four months ago. Amongst my links was Mish at Global Economics, who noted this:

Moody's: "Moody's has no obligation to perform, and does not perform, due diligence."

S&P: "Any user of the information contained herein should not rely on any credit rating or other opinion contained herein in making any investment decision."

As for Warren Buffet? A quiet or dirty little secret that the "Oracle of Omaha" doesn't tout, but the man who called derivatives "financial weapons of mass destruction" owns 20 percent of Moody's. It's contained within a CondeNast Portfolio story noting how CDOs being "shorted" by more savvy investors were then having their "shorts" leveraged to create ... new CDOs.

Given that the power for this leverage ultimately traces back to the blank check of Moody's, along with Fitch's and S&P, it's no wonder the "Oracle" has remained silent.

So much for him having been touted as a source of financial advice to Obama.