Wall St. may reject bailout!

Wall Street investment firms and banks may end up refusing to partake in the government bailout, choosing to ride out the storm of the recession the nation finds itself in.  Apparently, they don't particularly like the idea about executive pay limitations. Really? I wonder why. Heh. Next we will see President Bush calling for Congress to pass an amendment to the bill striking out the pay limit provisions.

Source: Guardian.co.uk

Expand the powers of the Vice President?

Such an act would require a constitutional amendment.

Sarah Palin's idea to expand the governmental powers of the office of the Vice President in yesterday’s debate raised criticism from a variety of sources, I among them.  The office of the Vice President is clearly defined in the constitution as the replacement for the sitting President and as the presiding officer of the Senate.  If the President is unable to perform their duty or dies in office the Vice President becomes the President.  As the President of the Senate all the VP does is preside over debate and voting and to pass a tie breaking vote if the Senate is split.  There is NO OTHER job or authority assigned to the office of the Vice President.  Without an amendment to the constitution, assigning new power to the office would be unconstitutional and thus illegal.

However, this does not mean the President can't use the Vice President as a proxy or representative, which is quite common and does not provide the Vice President any additional powers.

Hey Vegeta, whats the scouter say about their national debt???

ITS OVER $10 TRILLION!

What, $10 trillion?

Yep, our national debt has officially risen above the mark of 10 trillion dollars, no mean feat considering it took from the creation of our nation to right around 2000 to reach 5.6 trillion dollars.  Gee, I wonder what political event happened around 2000?  President Bush and Congress have nearly doubled our national debt over the length of Bush's presidency.

Click for more information

Senate passes bailout bill. Mmmmm delicious earmarks.

The Senate passed its own version of the wall street bailout earlier tonight, it include such gems as:

• An "Exemption from excise tax for certain wooden arrows designed for use by children."
• An earmark for auto racing.
• An earmark for wool research.
• An "increase in limit on cover over of rum excise tax to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands."

McCain discovers telephone.

After snubbing Letterman's show in favor of "returning to D.C." to work on the emergency bail out (only to show up across the street for another interview), McCain made an incredible discovery today which allows long distance voice and data communication through a wire. These wires, which sprang up all over the nation over night, allow electronic signals to be carried from a variety of distances, even world wide. So, instead of returning to D.C. to perform whatever work one lone senator can do on such a massive problem, McCain has decided to do all his work by telephone. He could stay home, maybe watch a little of the daily soaps, perhaps check his email every few hours, you know, just in case he might be needed. Then later on he could watch a little Leno.

Think Progress

Privatize profits, Socialize losses

This whole idea of a bail out package for irresponsible private banks and mortgage companies flows against the very foundation of a free market economy. Home prices are over inflated, the market must adjust prices like it would do for any other product or service, laying out a 700 billion dollar trough for these corrupt and incompetent members of the mortgage industry will do nothing but keep home prices artificially inflated and will do nothing to fix the over all problems with the economy. I guarantee you, if this bail out passes, it will not be the last bail out and it certainly will not be the largest.

Traitors in the Senate

The following is a list of Senators who voted to provide immunity to Telecom companies which spied on Americans.

Alexander (R-TN) Allard (R-CO) Barrasso (R-WY) Baucus (D-MT) Bayh (D-IN) Bennett (R-UT) Bond (R-MO) Brownback (R-KS) Bunning (R-KY) Burr (R-NC) Carper (D-DE) Casey (D-PA) Chambliss (R-GA) Coburn (R-OK) Cochran (R-MS) Coleman (R-MN) Collins (R-ME) Conrad (D-ND) Corker (R-TN) Cornyn (R-TX) Craig (R-ID) Crapo (R-ID) DeMint (R-SC)

Dole (R-NC) Domenici (R-NM) Ensign (R-NV) Enzi (R-WY) Feinstein (D-CA) Graham (R-SC) Grassley (R-IA) Gregg (R-NH) Hagel (R-NE) Hatch (R-UT) Hutchison (R-TX) Inhofe (R-OK) Inouye (D-HI) Isakson (R-GA) Johnson (D-SD) Kohl (D-WI) Kyl (R-AZ) Landrieu (D-LA) Lieberman (ID-CT) Lincoln (D-AR) Lugar (R-IN) Martinez (R-FL) McCaskill (D-MO)

McConnell (R-KY) Mikulski (D-MD) Murkowski (R-AK) Nelson (D-FL) Nelson (D-NE) Obama (D-IL) Pryor (D-AR) Roberts (R-KS) Rockefeller (D-WV) Salazar (D-CO) Shelby (R-AL) Smith (R-OR) Snowe (R-ME) Specter (R-PA) Stevens (R-AK) Sununu (R-NH) Thune (R-SD) Vitter (R-LA) Voinovich (R-OH) Warner (R-VA) Webb (D-VA) Whitehouse (D-RI) Wicker (R-MS)

Democrats Cave To Telecom Immunity Request

"WASHINGTON -- After more than a year of partisan acrimony over government surveillance powers, Democratic and Republican leaders have agreed to a bipartisan deal that would be the most sweeping rewrite of spy powers in three decades. The House is likely to vote on the measure Friday, House aides said.

Removing the final barrier to action on the measure, which has been hashed out in recent weeks by senior lawmakers in both parties, House Democratic leaders decided to allow a vote on the bill, despite the opposition of many in their party.

The new agreement broadens the authority to spy ..."

Source: Wall Street Journal

Firefox 3 Download Day

Today is the day to download Mozilla Firefox 3, the newest version of the popular web browser. Mozilla is going for a world record on the number of downloads on in a single day.

Supreme Court strikes down Military Commissions Act of 2006

"WASHINGTON - In a stinging rebuke to President Bush's anti-terror policies, a deeply divided Supreme Court ruled Thursday that foreign detainees held for years at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba have the right to appeal to U.S. civilian courts to challenge their indefinite imprisonment without charges."

Source: Yahoo News