The Ministry of Shadows

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Alarums and Excuses

Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2008 4:02 AM

The Dow Jones closed down nearly 800 points on Monday after the 'bailout' package was defeated on the Hill, 205-228.

A number of Republicans are blaming the failure on an excessively partisan statement by Speaker Nancy Pelosi prior to the vote. Now, if the package was a rotten deal, you could vote against it and say so. If the package was a good and necessary thing to salvage the economy, you could vote for it and say so.

So what's Nancy Pelosi being partisan got to do with it?

I'm still of the opinion that the legislation isn't tough enough on financial institutions and executives, nor does it provide adequate compensation - best expressed in terms of equity - to the taxpayer. Instead, we get the bad investments in our portfolio, while executives get their cupcakes frosted by Congress.


Naturally, when the Bush Administration is denied something it wants, it does it anyway.

To wit, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke expanding our currency trading with foreign banks to put another $650 billion into play.


The market is rebounding slightly (currently up 205 points) this morning after a non-speech by President Bush - essentially more predictions of dire consequences, more berating Congress for not doing what he wants, and the usual spate of dishonest body language and speech impediments.

This is supposed to instill confidence?


Sarah Palin did so well in her interview with Katie Couric, she had to come back for an encore ... with John McCain sitting in.

McCain berated the 'gotcha media' for the usual sins of taking a statement out of context, conveniently ignoring that this is what his entire performance in Friday's debate was predicated upon. So it's okay when it suits his purposes, but a venal sin when it points out that he picked a clueless bimbo for a running mate.

It certainly doesn't help the perception that Sarah Palin is seriously lacking in qualifications when you have to shepherd her through an interview with Katie Fracking Couric, of all people.


From the Oooga Booga Terrorism Department, another instance of calling out the bomb squad because someone saw a mysterious object outside the Phillies' ballpark.

The bomb squad promptly showed up and disposed of a hot dog that had been wrapped for launching from an air cannon by the team's mascot, and fired off during a commercial taping earlier in the day.



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