Something Ventured, Nothing Gained

John, quit your whining.  What did you think was going to happen after people felt comfortable enough during Republican campaign stops to yell out names such as terrorist and phrases such as "kill him?  That after getting people all riled up they would bring you milk and cookies?   Did the Oklahoma bombing teach you nothing?  How about Eric Rudolph?  People in your party run around accusing people who don't think like them of belonging to terrorist groups all the time.  Heck, the other half of your ticket has done it quite frequently in the last few weeks.  You accuse Obama of being naive when your behavior is absolutely clueless.  At least one hopes that's what you are because the other alternatives are far worse.

Excuse me, some of us have been speaking out for years.  What's going on now is that people are starting to understand that they let their fear get in the way of their common sense and now nothing in their life is private. 

Only two years ago, the Bush administration could count on public fear of terrorism and a Republican-controlled Congress to support an array of anti-terrorism tactics and programs that tested or exceeded the limits of US law.

Coercive interrogations, indefinite detentions, secret overseas prisons, and warrantless surveillance of phone calls and emails were among the tools used in its no-holds-barred response to the September 11 attacks on the United States.

But with the administration near the end of its term, said Lewis, "things are starting to come a little unglued.

"The approach this administration took is breaking down. Some of it is, as it loses its political steam and its credibility, people are willing to speak out."

Of course they are.  Being the sexually repressed country that we are, listening to our pillow talk is off limits.  I just want to know where to get the talking pillows.

Now onto the upcoming Depression. Getting Congress to pass the bailout bill was only the beginning of the Great American Ripoff.  The tip of the iceberg, one might say.  It was just to get the money so Bush could do what he wanted with it, which is to reward the crew without a clue one more time.  No matter how much money you give to the people on the top, as long as the people on the bottom get nothing, the economy won't get better.  As long as the people on the bottom can't spend money on anything other than the basic necessities of life this problem will continue to get worse.  Then we are going to find the rest of the iceberg.   Just like the Titanic.  Golden parachutes are of no use when you are drowning.

Industry executives quickly told Mr. Paulson that they liked the idea, though they warned that the Treasury should not try to squeeze out existing shareholders. They also begged Mr. Paulson not to impose tough restrictions on executive pay and golden-parachute deals for executives who are fired.

Mr. Paulson heeded those pleas. In his remarks on Friday, he carefully noted that the government would acquire only “nonvoting” shares in companies. And officials said the law lets the Treasury write most of its own restrictions on executive pay, and those restrictions can be lenient if they are applied to a set of fairly healthy companies.

If you are on the bottom and get fired, you can barely collect unemployment.  If you are on the top and get fired, you get lots of money and a bonus package.  In other words, the more incompetent you are, the more you get rewarded.

Speaking of the Peter Principle, how much more trouble can one Republican VP candidate get into?  Much more than one would think.  It seems that in their haste to protect her from herself, they might have done more damage than they intended.  Hoist on their own petard.  It would almost be funny except that this is the possible future of America we are talking about.

3Bs