Archive for September 22nd, 2008
Bailout Resentment
As the details of the government’s proposed bailout of Wall Street start to emerge, there’s a corresponding chorus of discontent being raised by the American people.
Even those who understand the need for the bailout are expressing their displeasure.
The $700 billion plan would empower the Treasury Department to buy bad mortgages from banks. Treasury would then negotiate prices and resell those mortgages (a risky proposition) freeing the banks that backed the poor loans to start lending money again.
Of course, those whose homes have been foreclosed get nothing. The big guys on Wall Street get a pass. And that’s what’s frustrating so many people.
News Talk Online political correspondent Alan Jasie took a walk down Wall Street after the show and spotted a guy getting into a Cadillac Escalade. Not a Lincoln Town Car. A Cadillac Escalade. Whose driver whisked him away, presumably for a luxury ride home.
With the rest of us parking even our efficient cars in favor of public transportation in and out of the city, the Escalade is, arguably, a symbol of the excesses of Wall Street that got us into this mess in the first place.
Blogger Who Reports On Voter Fraud, Disenfranchisement On News Talk Online On Paltalk
Friedman
Brad Friedman, who reports on votes that don’t get counted and voters who are discouraged from casting their ballots will be my guest tomorrow, Tuesday September 23, on News Talk Online on Paltalk.com.
Friedman will detail attempts by a state GOP official in Michigan to block those whose homes have been foreclosed from voting in the November election.
The state Democratic Party has taken the Republican Party to court in the Great Lakes state to try and block the attempted challenge, based on an argument that a person whose home has been foreclosed no longer can prove residency in the election district. House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) is also investigating.
Friedman’s Brad Blog has broken stories about the White House website scrubbing, the Tom Feeney/Clint Curtis/Yang Enterprises Vote-Rigging Scandal” (about which a documentary film, Murder, Spies & Voting Lies, featuring Brad and his year’s-long effort to investigate and report the story, has now been made); the story of the phony GOP front group, American Center for Voting Rights and the e-voting machine “sleepover” controversy in San Diego’s Busby/Bilbray U.S. House special election. He has also reported about whistle blowers like FBI translator Sibel Edmonds and has covered concerns about the integrity of the products developed by various electronic voting machine companies. Friedman has addressed U.S. Election Assistance Commission, the Texas state legislature and many other governmental and non-governmental organizations.
Pakistani Troops Fire On U.S. Helicopters
For the second time in a week, Pakistani troops have fired on U.S. military helicopters that have flown into that nation’s airspace, forcing the choppers to make hasty retreats to Afghanistan.
Relationships have been strained between the United States and Pakistan over U.S. military incursions into the country in pursuit of al Qaeda and Taliban operatives without the permission of the government.
The Pakistani government is particularly upset over “collateral” deaths of civilians particularly during bombing raids.
The United States has promised to seek permission of the government before violating Pakistan’s borders. But if this claim by the Pakistani government is correct, that promise is, obviously hallow.
Media reports have indicated that the U.S. is concerned that any military action planned will be telegraphed to the terrorists by intelligence or military elements of Pakistan who are sympathetic to their cause.
McCain Shows Willingness To Reach Across Party Lines
Andrew Cuomo
Last night’s 60 Minutes featured extensive interviews with both presidential candidates.
Two things that John McCain said jumped out.
First, that he would remove the political arm of the Republican Party from the White House and re-locate it at the Republican National Committee.
Second, that he’d name Andrew Cuomo chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission to help guide the nation out of the current financial mess.
An interesting thought, coming from a Republican candidate for president. Because Cuomo, the New York state attorney general and former Housing and Urban Development secretary in the Clinton administration is a Democrat.
It shows that, perhaps, the GOP campaign theme country first may have been more than a slogan, and that McCain still shows his bipartisan maverick tendencies. A quality that may politically heal this nation should he become the next president of the United States.
