NUMBERS There's been a lot of coverage of the hold Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) has placed on the Bernanke reappointment. In each piece I've read, there's inevitably been a boilerplate line stipulating that, despite the criticism the Fed Chair has come in for, he has more than enough votes for confirmation.
But is this so? Has anyone actually counted heads?
WISH GRANTED The next Interfaith Fellowship for Universal Health Care event focusing on Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) is Tuesday, November 24 at 11:30 a.m. in Hartford.
PBS, CNN AND TORTURE From a footnote to Scott Horton's article "Justice After Bush" in the December issue of Harper's magazine:
I myself was warned twice by PBS producers, in advance of appearances on The Newshour with Jim Lehrer, that I could use the word "torture" in the abstract but that I was to refrain from applying it to the administration's policies.
And after an interview with CNN in which I spoke of the administration's torture policy, I was told by the producer, "That's okay for CNN International, but we can't use it on the domestic feed."
MAKES NO SENSE I keep seeing news reports about what provisions of the Wall Street bailout Hank Paulson has or has not agreed. But to be blunt about it: Who cares?
Does anyone honestly believe that if Congress comes up with a bailout plan--any bailout plan at all--clocking in at several hundred billion dollars, President Bush is going to veto it?
What Paulson thinks is (thankfully) irrelevant. Congress should figure out if passing a plan would be a good idea; if so, what plan would be best; and then Congress should pass that plan.
OBAMA: IT'S NO PLAN Recently posted on the campaign blog:
Thus far, the Administration has only offered a concept with a staggering price tag, not a plan.
Even if the Treasury recovers some or most of its investment over time, this initial outlay of up to $700 billion is sobering. And in return for their support, the American people must be assured that the deal reflects some basic principles.
He goes on to enumerate a whole bunch of sensible principles.
But will he have the courage to stick his neck out on this? Even as Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) seem to be bowing down before Hank Paulson as some sort of savior?
THIS IS MADNESS Giving Hank Paulson $700 billion to do what he pleases with is insane. It's the same as the Iraq war--and roughly the same price--but instead of carnage and destruction, we're just skipping straight to the part where we give all the loot to the powerful and well-connected.
That's not to say federal intervention isn't needed. It sounds like it is. But putting the former head of Goldman Sachs in charge of the mother of all taxpayer sponsored slush funds--for him to dole out to his old Wall Street friends in whatever way he likes--is worse than crazy.
Calling it "crazy" doesn't even begin to capture how crazy it is.
The slight uptick shown in the final column (at right) is projected--it assumes the expiration of the Bush tax cuts.