Rabid Liberal Rants

And rightly so. From ABC News:

Some Chicago economists are leading an opposition movement to get lawmakers to consider other options.

Two economists lead the opposition movement, one from the University of Chicago, the other from Northwestern University. And Thursday their concerns were brought into the White House meeting.

Senator Richard Shelby went to the White House armed with a letter. The letter is signed by 200 economists, including three Nobel Prize winners, and warns Congress not to back the bailout.

Why:

Its ambiguity: Very short on specifics and oversight, they say.

Its fairness: Because taxpayer’s will be subsidizing the risk investors “chose” to take.

And it’s long-term effects: The economists say paying for it will take a generation

“Ben Bernanke likes to say there are no atheists in fox holes, well General Bernanke just called in from the fox hole and said we want a nuclear strike. It’s that radical and we’re going ‘is it really that bad?’” said John Cochrane, finance professor, University of Chicago

The Democrats should be right along with this as well. I understand something must be done to keep credit flowing within the banking system. But people should also be held accountable for their mistakes. Why should we as taxpayers, who pay their mortgages, bills, and taxes on time be forced to bail out folks who gambled?

It’s a known fact: As mayor of Wasilla, an Alaskan town, Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin thought it was prudent to have rape victims pay for their own rape kits and exams. From the NYTimes OpEd Page:

When Sarah Palin was mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, the small town began billing sexual-assault victims for the cost of rape kits and forensic exams.

The insult to rape victims is obvious. So is the sexism inherent in singling them out to foot the bill for investigating their own case. And the main result of billing rape victims is to protect their attackers by discouraging women from reporting sexual assaults.

This on top of some startling stats from staralaska.org:

• Alaska is the # 1 state in the country for Rape and has been for 23 out of the last 30 years (FBI’s Uniform Crime Report)
• Alaska’s reported rate of rape per capita is 2.6 times the national average (FBI’s Uniform Crime Report)
• Anchorage has the ninth highest sexual assault rate of any city in the United States, and Fairbanks is ranked first (FBI’s Uniform Crime Report)
• Fairbanks’ rape rate is 4.7 times the national average (FBI’s Uniform Crime Report)

We really need to understand her reasoning behind this and call her on it. She’s kept quiet about it far too long.

Wow! A 119 year old bank, WaMu has been seized by the government and sold off to JPMorgan. A major consolidation is happening in our financial markets/banking system.

And they just built a WaMu location a block away from me, set to open next month.

From the DailyKos, regarding Palin’s interview with Katie Couric:

COURIC: Why isn’t it better, Governor Palin, to spend $700 billion helping middle-class families struggling with health care, housing, gas and groceries? … Instead of helping these big financial institutions that played a role in creating this mess?

PALIN: Ultimately, what the bailout does is help those who are concerned about the health care reform that is needed to help shore up the economy– Oh, it’s got to be about job creation too. So health care reform and reducing taxes and reining in spending has got to accompany tax reductions.

As Kos points out, Palin says that “Reducing taxes has to be accompanied by tax reductions.”

It doesn’t get any better than this.

China’s version of Back To The Future! Or maybe they developed some secret time travel machine? Or have some sort of crystal ball? Or hired Ms. Cleo? Gotta love it…

From Yahoo News!: China Space Mission Article Hits Web Before Launch

Oh boy, let the mudracking begin. From the National Enquirer [hey, they were on the money with the John Edwards affair], reports that Sarah Palin had an affair with Brad Hanson, Todd Palin’s business partner and former city council member from nearby town.

No less than three members of the man’s family including one by sworn affidavit have claimed that Sarah Palin engaged in an extramarital affair with hus­band Todd’s former business partner, Brad Hanson.

And the breakdown from Gawker.

It’s a sad fact but racism is still alive and well in America as these articles suggest, which will make Obama’s run for the presidency all the more difficult.

Obama effigy found hanging on Ore. campus on Yahoo! News

Supremacists distribute fliers attacking Obama on Star Ledger

Jewish Voters Receiving Anti-Obama Calls in Florida on NY Sun

Racism Could Hurt Obama in Pennsylvania on Yahoo! News

A nice, continuosly updated, writeup on Wikipedia on the current Financial Meltdown and Credit Crisis can be found here.

From The Nation:

Under Paulson’s draft plan, Congress and the courts would have been barred from reviewing or challenging his moves to stabilize financial markets — effectively making him the nation’s economic czar. That’s not just a dangerous power grab for economic and politic reasons. It’s unconstitutional.

So basically, this man is looking for $700 Billion in taxpayer money, to do whatever he thinks is right, without anyone having the ability to review or question his plan and whatever else he does with the money. ARE YOU FREAKIN” NUTS?!? This is just as bad as giving the President the blank check for the Iraq War! They’re looking for another blank check. I hope and pray this proposal does not go through and sensible minds prevail in Congress. Don’t get pushed and bullied into approving this plan.

And yet the folks that caused this mess, the CEOs and managers and those that made the loans, all go away scott free with their golden parachutes. Anybody who knowingly made loans to people who they knew wouldn’t be able to afford them, should be going to jail. Period.

Why were all these people able to do what the did? The answer is Deregulation. If you have some time, here’s a good writeup on the history of this mess.

Pat Buchanan opines on how the neocons are schooling Palin on foreign policy.