Because he just suggested that bankers salaries be capped by legislation to $124,010, the highest pay for civil servants, because they are taking so much federal aid.
My guess is that if actual legislation requiring this were to start through Congress, he would condemn it, it’s a pose to show that he is an iconoclast, but we live in strange times.
It’s not Lieberman, but it should come as no surprise that I am referring to the distinguished gentleman from Delaware, Joseph Biden….What the heck is it with Senators named “Joe”?
A prominent Senate Democrat on Wednesday said federal and local police should use custom software to monitor peer-to-peer networks for illegal activity, and he wants to spend $1 billion in tax dollars to help make that happen.
Of course, you have the obligatory screaming about Child Pr0n and terrorism, but it’s really about donations from the RIAA and the MPAA.
Additionally, the tracking method proposed, using MAC addresses, is fairly easily spoofed.
Moron.
A plea to both campaigns: Please do not select this blithering idiot as your Vice Presidential running mate.
I think that it is a good thing that the Maryland leg, and Governor O’Malley has signed into law, substantial changes in the time lines for foreclosures.
Basic gist of the bill is that the ender cannot file for foreclosure until at least 90 days after default, and there must be 45 days notice of foreclosure, with personal service, meaning a guy handing you papers.
It used to be theoretically possible to foreclose in 15 days.
One of the legacies of Jack Abramhoff appears to be on its way out.
They label the Senate foreclosure bill a, “A Pro-Foreclosure Bill“:
We refer to a $7,000 tax credit (payable over two years) to anyone who purchases a foreclosed home within a year of the proposal’s enactment. Supposedly, this would help clear the nation’s swollen inventory of repossessed properties, thus propping up home prices more generally. Here’s the catch. For lenders as well as borrowers, foreclosure is an expensive hassle. If at all possible, most banks would rather avoid repossessing a house, which they must then try to resell. But, by making it cheaper to buy a foreclosed house than a comparable unforeclosed property, the tax credit makes it more feasible to sell one. The cost and hassle — for the lender — of foreclosure go down, and the benefits go up. Other things being equal, lenders would be that much more likely to foreclose — rather than to help homeowners stay in their houses on modified terms.
The record of the Washington Post editorial board lately has been so bad that I’ve come to wonder if Richard Nixon was innocent.
H/T Dean Baker
It appears now that name calling, invocations of 911, and threats of dire political consequences to Democratic members of Congress, it appears that Bush and His Evil Minions™ are willing to negociate in food faith.
Honestly, I don’t trust them, but it’s clear that something has changed:
The White House’s more conciliatory posture reflects a recognition that the Bush administration’s leverage on national-security matters has slipped since this past summer, a top Republican congressional aide said. “There’s a recognition that if they’re actually going to get a product they can support, there’s going to have to be some new level of engagement,” the aide said.
Pa4rt of this, IMSNHO, was that Representatives got many enthusiastic high fives from constituents when they left for the recess, and part of it is because it is increasingly clear that DNI Mike McConnell is a lying sack of sh*% (like his lying about telcos refusing to wiretap) who does nothing but carry water for Bush.
There is talk of a compromise along the lines of something like limits on liability, or some sort of government indemnification (which was probably already part of the deal).
I don’t object to indemnification or damage limits, there are precedents for this, and it would not have the effect of covering up Bush’s law breaking.
What worries me is that Steny Hoyer is point man on this, and when the going gets tough, he folds like overcooked broccoli.
It’s being sold as an agreement on a relief plan, but the Republicans killed bankruptcy changes. You know the ones that would allow a primary home to be treated the same way as commercial property or vacation homes.
This is the single best part of any potential reform, for the following reasons:
Of course, it means that the fat cats experience some of the pain that they created, so it’s not acceptable to the Republicans.
It is now being reported that, after having thrown everything at the Congressional Democrats but the kitchen sink, Bush is trying to adopt a more conciliatory attitude on the FISA update.
You’ve accused Pelosi and Reyes of everything short of buggering goats, and now it’s time to make nice.
Bush does not get it. The congressional Democrats stood up to him before the recess, and when they got back to their home districts, their constituents basically high fived them for standing up to him.
They realize that standing up to Mr. 19% is a political winner, so you have to convince them of the benefit to the public good of your proposals.
Bush’s problem is that there is no public good to telco immunity. It’s not about the public good. It’s about keeping Bush and His Evil Minions™ out of jail.
Telco immunity is important to Bush because Bush illegally coerced the telecommunications companies to Hoover the phone and internet well before 911, and if it comes out in court, he goes to jail, as do many of his cronies.
Even the MSM is getting it now, with the LA Times describing DNI Michael McConnell’s behavior at a retreat with members of the House Intelligence Committee as being water carrying for the administration.
Took them long enough. He has been lying, and lying in ways that can be disproved in a few minutes with “the Google”, for months now, and the press is finally starting to notice.
All of this lot need to go on trial after January. The pardon of Nixon has created a cult of impunity among Republicans that needs to be shut down.
In the discussion of the House FISA bill, I’ve frequently discussed the telco immunity, it also represents a a significant change to the much abused state secrets privilige.
It now requires that evidence be presented to the judge, though not the litigants.
This is important because the state secrets privilege has been rotten to its core from its first use, which the Supreme Court heard as U.S. v. Reynolds, that had no actual state secrets involved.
The government just lied to the court in claiming that the B-29 involved in a crashwas on a secret mission, when the aircraft was not on a secret mission.
They simply did not want to admit that the crash was caused by grossly negligent maintenance.
The state secrets privilege should be abolished.
From The Gavel, Pelosi’s Blog:
House Passes FISA Amendments Act
March 14th, 2008 by Jesse LeeThe House has just passed the House amendment to the Senate amendment to H.R. 3773, to amend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 to establish a procedure for authorizing certain acquisitions of foreign intelligence, and for other purposes, by a vote of 213-197-1. The revised House legislation to amend FISA grants new authorities for conducting electronic surveillance against foreign targets while preserving the requirement that the government obtain an individualized FISA court order, based on probable cause, when targeting Americans at home or abroad. The House bill also strongly enhances oversight of the Administration’s surveillance activities. Finally, the House bill does not provide retroactive immunity for telecom companies but allows the courts to determine whether lawsuits should proceed.
You can find the vote here.
In the anti-American crowd (Nays), you have 12 Democrats, including Lampson and Shuler.
Nick Lampson I keep getting emails from, because he bought Richard Morrison’s mailing list when he took over the campaign.
As to Heath Shuler, he was an overpaid, no brain, no guts punk when he played for the Redskins, and he’s an overpaid no brain, no guts punk now.
It’s a, good start, but we are in a deep hole, both in terms of the Federal budget deficient and the economy, and the Wall Street types who created this whole, and benefit from this hole, need to pay more of their share of the hole.
The maximum marginal tax rate needs to be increased, probably into the 45% to 50% range for people making over $½ million a year, because we are going to need massive government spending to avoid Japan’s 15 year deflationary trap, and we have massive infrastructure needs that have to be addressed regardless of the state of the economy.
This is not a common event, and if you have a “blue dog” representative, call him, and make it clear that you will never vote for him for anything under any circumstances if he approves Telco immunity.
I’m still not sure what put some spine in the House dems, but when Pelosi is saying things like, “the president is wrong, and he knows it“, it’s clear that something has given them the will to resist Mr. Nineteen percent.
My theory is that when they left without passing telco immunity, they were overwhelmed at the support that they received, and that they realize that opposing Bush on anything for any reason is a winning tactic.
Of course, Senator Rockefeller is still determined to put telco immunity back in there. My guess is that he was briefed and signed off on it, and thinks that it will harm him politically.
The thing that the media will cover, of course, is the expensive cars, private jets, and so on that many of these “prosperity preachers” have.
There is actually a very real issue here. Churches, unlike every other 501(c)3 tax exempt organization, is not required to file a publicly accessible 990 form.
I incorporated a 501(c)3 tax exempt organization and chase the paperwork through the IRS in 1990 as a non-lawyer, Arisia.
When I was involved in running it, gross revenues were less than $50,000/year, and now it’s probably less than $200K/year.
For any church, considering building, maintenance, salaries and benefits for, preacher, secretary, education director, and janitor, you are well above $500K on anything but the tiniest church.
It’s too expensive for them, but it’s not too expensive for us.
They object to form 990s because they do not want their parishioners to know that they are wasting their money on their own inflated lifestyles.
Check out the Trinity Foundation a Christian reform organization that has been talking about this for years.
The Judiciary Committee has had hearings on this.
It’s a good sign, but I think that it’s more inside baseball than anything else. Specifically, has been before Ed Markey’s Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet of the Energy and Commerce Committee, and in order to get it in front of the Justice Committee, they are looking at putting it in antitrust legislation.
The fact that two committees are now competing to get this passed is a good sign for network neutrality legislation.
I’m not surprised, but I am disappointed.
Anyone who voted to uphold the veto, which includes 3 Dems, and does not include 5 Republicans are criminally complicit.
The house is completely defying Bush on the FISA wiretap update proposal.
Instead of immunity, they are putting forward giving, “the federal courts special authorization to hear classified evidence and decide whether the phone companies should be held liable.” Meaning that their answer to Bush’s demand for a coverup is even more judicial overview with regard to spying on Americans.
Word that I’ve read is that the freshman Democrats are very opposed to immunity, and my not so educated guess is that when they went on recess, that the reps got hundreds, if not thousands, of “attaboys” from theid constituents.
The Bush administration hates the bill, and the response for John Conyers and Sylvestre Reyes is brutal:
The Administration, which has refused to even attend negotiation sessions between the House and the Senate, has now apparently launched another round of scare tactics and falsehoods. The American people expect government officials to wrestle with these difficult issues and reach common sense solutions that protect Americans from terrorism and preserve our civil liberties. Unfortunately, the President’s advisors seem more inclined to issue ‘my way or the highway’ press releases concerning a bill the Administration hasn’t even read. The Congress will continue to give this issue the careful consideration it deserves and we hope the Administration will change course and join us in this effort.
I don’t know who put some steel in their spine, but it feels good.
FWIW, Patrick Leahy, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, who got bunked by Reid on immunity, likes the House bill too.
So does the EFF.
Monsanto has created an astroturf group that is lobbying to prohibit rBST and BGH free labels. They argue that it is “too confusing to consumers”.
I understand that Monsanto wants to market its industrial waste as widely as possible, but I object to their attempt to keep me, and the rest of the general public in the dark about it.
This is not confusing at all. I don’t their crap in my kid’s milk. Period, full stop.
The times is saying that he’s cementing his legacy, and I would agree.
George W. Bush is to good government what Jeffrey Dahmer was to fine dining.
We really need to send all of his senior people to the Hague for trial in 2009.
Glenn Greenwald has the scoop, and I need a drink.
Oh well, Purim is not that far away.
They are actually going to the Cayman islands on legitimate business…no…really…I mean it.
Congress had decided to go after tax havens, and they have sent GAO investigators, and they will be visiting the infamous Ugland House, corporate headquarters for 12,748 companies.
Good for Congress, and good for GAO, it’s investigative arm.
If the Republicans were in charge, this would never have happened, because they believe that, “only little people pay taxes.”
FWIW, offering bounties for tax cheats, as German investigators did with records of trusts in Lichtenstein, would be a very good thing.