Après moi le déluge

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The real reason for the auto bailout package: Bush and Cheney didn’t want to be the ones to pay for automakers’ funerals and preside over their estate sales.

Lady and the Tramp ipod

While he tries to couch it in a way that makes it sound like the shit sandwich that was handed to the Obama administration was actually a favor, it’s pretty obvious that the move was nothing more than an almost Clintonesque CYA move to keep at least part of W’s legacy intact.

Somewhere, deep in the heart of suburban Dallas, former President Bush is wishing Dick would just STFU and retire already.

Today’s champion of open government: Fox News?!?!?

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Actually Fox Business Network.

The network filed a FOIA request to see where exactly our tax dollars (and our kids’ and our grandkids’) are going. Due to a little heal dragging on the part of the Treasury Department, Fox sued them to force them to release the data, including details such as what “toxic” assets were purchased, any collateral involved, and any restrictions put on the use of the money.

Kevin Magee, Executive Vice President, FOX News commented, “The Treasury has repeatedly ignored our requests for information on how the government is allocating money to these troubled institutions. In a critical time like this amidst mounting corruptions and an economic crisis, we as a news organization feel it’s more important than ever to hold the government accountable.”

So there you have it. The journalistic crusaders at Fox have shown today that every once in a while,  they do something right. Here’s hoping they win.

No Rescue for the Hungry

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From the Washington Post;

According to this commentary by Joel Berg, executive director of the New York Coalition Against Hunger, he and other social services advocates have trouble understanding why the federal government is ready to spend “a trillion dollars” to bail out the financial sector, while millions go hungry across the U.S. “When advocates point out that our nation is facing…soaring hunger and homelessness, and that a large-scale bailout is needed to prevent social services nationwide from buckling under the increasing load, we are told that the money these agencies need just doesn’t exist.” Berg cites USDA statistics showing that in 2006, 35.5 million Americans (up 4 million from 1999) live in households unable to afford enough food to eat – households that include more than 12 million children. When advocates called on Congress to “obtain serious funding increases to meet the soaring needs,” they were told “times are just too tough to increase budgets.” Berg notes that times are “bleak” in New York City, with the mayor and state governor working to cut emergency feeding programs while the number of meals served by the city-supported food pantries and soup kitchens has increased nine percent over the past year. Berg concludes “Just as it is unthinkable for the country to allow financial giants to go belly-up, it should be unthinkable to look the other way as tens of millions of low-income Americans (the types of people who clean the offices of AIG and Fannie Mae at night) go without food or shelter. It’s time to get our priorities in order.”

Bailout vote fails; is that bad?

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I don’t think it is that bad, it just forces both parties to come up with better legislation. I’m still weary about the bailout. I think it should be done in monthly increments of 50 Billion, and if we can fix it in one month or two months, good. I don’t agree with guaranteeing the whole amount.

What I found ironic about the failed vote was the Republican leadership was claiming they had the support, yet party members voted against their own leadership and president.

Talk about radioactive!

FAUX News is of course blaming Pelosi (for speaking the truth);

Opponents said part of the reason for the opposition from Republicans was what they termed a partisan speech by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, said one GOP source. House Minority Whip Roy Blunt said he thinks Republicans could have provided a dozen more votes had Pelosi not given her speech.

Pelosi had said that Congress needed to pass the bill, even though it was an outgrowth of the “failed economic policies” of the last eight years.

“When was the last time someone asked you for $700 billion?” she asked. “It is a number that is staggering, but tells us only the costs of the Bush administration’s failed economic policies — policies built on budgetary recklessness, on an anything goes mentality, with no regulation, no supervision, and no discipline in the system.”