Congressman Mitchell's response to the letter on the bailout

A few days ago, I wrote a letter to Congressman Harry Mitchell concerning the Wall Street bailout proposal floated by the Bush Administration.

Congressman Mitchell voted against the original proposal (which failed) and voted in favor of the revised bill.

The Congressman's response, via email -

Dear [cpmaz]:

Thank you for contacting me regarding H.R. 1424, the economic recovery package.

The current economic crisis extends far beyond Wall Street or Washington. It affects us all. If the credit market freezes, then it is going to become dramatically more difficult for anyone to borrow money to purchase a home or a car, or to send their kids to college. Businesses, large and small, will be cut off from the credit they need to stock their shelves and make payroll.

Throughout consideration of this rescue package, I believed that both parties needed to come together to forge a compromise that would protect taxpayers and promote investor confidence. For this reason, I opposed the blank check proposed by Treasury Secretary Paulson. And, with less than 24 hours for deliberation and public comment, I voted against H.R. 3997, a modified proposal that House Leaders rushed to the floor on September 29, 2008, and failed by a vote of 205 to 228.

After the House of Representatives rejected these hasty proposals, members of both parties worked together to make significant improvements to this legislation.

H.R. 1424 authorizes the U.S. Department of Treasury to begin an aggressive program to restore liquidity to our nation's credit market. Specifically, it authorizes the Department Treasury to begin buying and re-selling certain mortgage backed securities that are currently preventing lenders from issuing credit. Unlike the lump sum $700 billion pay out in the Paulson plan, the legislation provides the Secretary with an initial $250 billion, followed by another $100 billion upon a Treasury Department report to Congress. The Secretary could then request up to an additional $350 billion, however, Congress will be given 15 days to vote to stop this from happening if it does not approve of how the Secretary is managing the rescue plan, or does not want to commit additional taxpayer funds to it.

I am not happy with everything in the new bill, especially the earmarks that the Senate snuck into the bill at the last-minute. This is precisely the kind of legislating that makes the public so distrustful of Congress and so suspicious when they are asked to support an important economic rescue package. This is disappointing on many fronts, particularly because I spent nearly three decades teaching government at Tempe High School, and I am certain that this is not how our political process was intended to function.

However, inaction would cripple our economy.

To its credit, the new package includes improvements to protect taxpayers and promote investor confidence.

It increases Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation ("FDIC") and National Credit Union Administration ("NCUA") insurance limits to $250,000. This is not only important protection to individual depositors, but also to small businesses that keep payrolls in banks and credit unions and need to know these funds are secure. This provision was not included in the Paulson plan or the first bill brought to the House on September 29.

In addition, unlike the Paulson plan, H.R. 1424 puts a stop to so-called "golden parachutes" - extravagant exit bonuses to executives who leave companies that may have had a hand in creating the current crisis.

Also, unlike the Paulson plan, H.R. 1424 will protect taxpayers by making sure that the recovery program is subject to oversight and judicial review. Four separate entities will provide constant oversight to ensure efficiency and fairness in the Troubled Assets Relief Program ("TARP"). This program will buy and re-sell assets from distressed companies, and new provisions for recoupment ensure that costs from the program are not passed on to taxpayers.

The new package will also help many homeowners in danger of foreclosure by allowing the government to work with loan servicers to re-structure mortgages.

Significantly, the new package includes a recoupment provision, which requires the President to submit legislation to Congress in five years to begin recouping any losses incurred by the federal government as a result of TARP from the financial industry in order to make taxpayers whole.

Finally, the new package will extend key tax credits to encourage investments in alternative energies like solar. Right here in Arizona, APS and Abengoa are planning to build the world's largest solar power plant - big enough to power 70,000 homes. Without these tax credits, it will not happen. These investments will be taken overseas. Now, the investments spawned by these tax breaks will help drive our economy forward by creating thousands of jobs and producing more than $4 billion worth of energy over the next 30 years.

I am disappointed that the final package did not extend important cuts to capital gains and estate taxes. These cuts are set to expire and I think the last thing we want to do is have investors worried about a tax increase. Last year, Representative Christopher Shays and I introduced H.R. 3170, Capital Gains and Estate Tax Relief Act, to make these cuts permanent, and I believe that the inclusion of this legislation would have encouraged investment and provided important certainty to our tax code.

However, with an economic disaster looming, I believe we had a responsibility to act. The final package was approved by the U.S. Senate on October 1, 2008 by a 74-25 vote. I voted for, and the House passed the economic package two days later by a bipartisan vote of 263 to 171. The President signed the legislation into law the same day.

Again, thank you for taking the time to write to me about our economy and the government's economic recovery package. Please do not hesitate to contact me in the future if you have additional comments or concerns.

If you would like to receive e-mail updates about how I am working on behalf of Arizona's 5th Congressional District, I invite you to sign up for my newsletter at www.mitchell.house.gov.

Sincerely,

Harry E. Mitchell
Member of Congress

HEM/jw

I haven't actually looked at the revised bailout package, but while it sounds to be a much better package than the original one, I'm still hesitant about anything with a price tag in excess of $700 billion dollars.

Especially when the primary beneficiaries (though not the *only* beneficiaries) are Wall Street CEOs/inveterate gamblers with other people's money.

...As for the rest of the AZ delegation in addition to Harry Mitchell, Democrats Gabrielle Giffords and Ed Pastor, and Republican John Shadegg voted in favor; Democrat Raul Grijalva and Republicans Jeff Flake and Trent Franks voted against.

Later!

There's at least one government worker who needs a class on clear writing...

...The writing standards at our municipal governments is getting remarkably poor...poor enough that a humble (or not-so-humble!) blogger has a gripe...

On Monday, the Papago Park Executive Committee held a meeting in Scottsdale. The committee is a joint effort made up of elected and municipal officials from Tempe, Scottsdale and that tiny suburb to the west, Phoenix. It oversees the operation and planning for Papago Park, located in Tempe and Phoenix and bordering on Scottsdale. Among the current attractions in the park are the Phoenix Zoo and Desert Botanical Garden. And *lots* of hiking. :) It's the only significant open public land in its part of the Valley.

Anyway, to make a long story short, there have been a number of proposals floated to "improve" the park, including giving the land to developers for commercial and residential projects (floated by attorney Grady Gammage, a favorite of developers.)

When I came across the agenda for the meeting, my interest was piqued by this entry -

Olsson and Associates presentation on Great American Parks

"Great American Parks" rung a bell. There are a number of amusement parks with "Great America" in their names, as well as an amusement/theme park company named "Great American Family Parks."

It looked like the committee was considering a plan to turn over pristine and near-pristine desert to rollercoasters and other vomit-inducing thrill rides.

However, having never heard even a whisper of such a scheme, I thought it would be a good idea to attend the meeting before trumpeting the alarm.

Damn, I'm glad that I did so.

Turns out that the "Great American Parks" referenced in the meeting agenda relating to a future Papago were Central Park in NYC, Balboa Park in San Diego, Griffith Park in L.A., Fair Park in Dallas, Golden Gate Park in SF, and Grant Park.

Oops. While those parks do have attractions, some of which include rides, mostly the attractions are of the museum-theme park-zoo variety, with a state fair (Dallas) thrown in for good measure.

While the words "private partners" were bandied about with altogether too much enthusiasm (hey, Mayor Hugh Hallman of Tempe *is* a member of the committee :) ), but it doesn't seem likely that "Six Flags - Papago" or something similar is in our immediate future. There is something in the works for AZ's centennial celebration in 2012, though. Stay tuned on more info on that subject.

That's an hour-and-a-half of my life that I'll never get back, all because some municipal employee capitalized the words "Great American Parks" like it was a proper name.

:((


A decent summary page about the park, its history, and proposals for its future can be found here.

Later!

Wow! The AZ Congressional delegation can agree on something besides postal facility namings...

Of course, even on those rare occasions when AZ's federal legislators are on the same page, it's for very different reasons...

As has been reported in many places, the U.S. House of Representatives rejected the $700 billion bailout bill for Wall Street investment firms, and the entire Arizona delegation voted against it.

Note: more info on the bailout is available from the House Financial Services Committee here.

Their reasons were varied - from the Dems hating it because it didn't contain enough protections for taxpayers to the Reps hating it because it contained some protections.

A number of MSM pundits and writers have opined that the measure was defeated by members of the House who are facing tough reelection battles (AP via TriValleyCentral.com). There may be an element of truth in that idea, but an examination of even just the AZ delegation's situations belies that the notion is universally accurate -

Ed Pastor (D-CD4), Raul Grijalva (D-CD7), and Jeff Flake (R-CD6) are totally safe in their races.

Trent Franks (R-CD2) is close to safe in his, too.

Gabrielle Giffords (D-CD8) is facing a solid challenger in Tim Bee, but she is solidly positioned herself, and should retain her seat.

Harry Mitchell (D-CD5) is facing a tough fight because of his district's demographics (40K more registered Republicans) and John Shadegg (R-CD3) is facing the fight of his political career (a super-strong challenger in Bob Lord and his retire/unretire two-step earlier this year).

Rick Renzi (R-CD1) isn't even running (something about a federal indictment and upcoming trial).

So only two of the eight AZ Congresscritters who voted against the bailout are facing serious election threats (apologies to supporters of Tim Bee and John Thrasher, but that's the way I see it), yet all eight voted against it.

Simply put, the Bush Administration's bailout proposal was just a bad idea, even for people who believe that a government response to the turmoil in the markets is appropriate.

After all of the finger-pointing dies down (publicly, anyway), look for some sort of bailout proposal to come out of the House, probably with a price tag that's much lower than the Administration's desired $700 billion blank check, and also with some serious safeguards for the taxpayers' money.

At this point though, any changes will probably appeal more to Democrats looking to protect taxpayers' interests than appeal to Republicans looking to use this crisis as an excuse to further deregulate the financial markets.

Don't expect the AZ delegation to be in so much agreement next time.


On the Democratic side, the AZ Star on the reasons that Reps. Grijlava and Giffords voted against the bill here; the Ahwatukee Foothills News on Rep. Harry Mitchell's objections here. Bob Lord's (D challenger in CD3) press release here.

On the Republican side, Rep. Shadegg's op-ed in USA Today is here; a Rep. Flake quote is here (Phoenix Business Journal).

Note2: I'd have linked to the websites of Reps. Giffords and Pastor, but the House website is still experiencing problems related to its heavy site traffic on Monday, and couldn't access those pages.

Note3: ever-loyal (and perceptive!) reader and frequent commenter Elizabeth noted in an email that after the failure of the bailout on Monday, followed by the stock market's precipitous drop, the Washington Post ran this story on the front page of their website.

It chronicles what is truly the greatest crisis facing American society today - the decline in home run totals in Major League Baseball.

Later...

With friends like these...

With friends like these endorsing candidates, it's easy to figure out who not to vote for...

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a post about one of the more colorful candidates for office this cycle, former state legislator Colette Rosati. She's running for the District 3 seat on the board of the Maricopa County Special Healthcare District.

At the time, I promised to do a more in-depth post, one with possible recommendations. I haven't really had the time to do the research required for an in-depth post, but thankfully, the Pachyderm Coalition, a group of very conservative Republicans, has done so for us, and issued a list of endorsements.

All we have to do is vote for candidates other than the ones they recommend. :)

The list is available at Seeing Red AZ -

"The endorsed candidates are Rex Altree (Dist 1), Dr. Harlan Stratton (Dist. 2), Colette Rosati, RN (Dist. 3), Elton Bicknell (Dist. 4), and Todd Hansen, J.D. (Dist 5)"

The District 1 candidates (aka - my district's candidates) are auto glass guy and uber-conservative Altree and incumbent Bil Bruno. I couldn't find much info about Bruno other than that he's an insurance broker who seems to be a Republican (based on campaign contributions to the likes of Jan Brewer) who isn't conservative enough for the Pachyderm Coalition.

That may not be enough to earn an outright endorsement here (especially since his wife Patti has given to the likes of Laura Knaperek and Lori Daniels), but he will definitely be getting my vote this time around.


The District 2 candidates are Robert Carey, Greg Patterson, and the aforementioned Harlan Stratton.

Carey is a lawyer who used to be a staffer for John McCain and authored legislation for Bob Dole and Jon Kyl.

Patterson is a Republican former state legislator, CPA, and conservative blogger.

Stratton is a hardcore conservative (actually, if the Pachys picked him over the other two, he is beyond 'hardcore').

Ummm...if I lived and voted in District 2, I'd vote for "none of the above."


In District 3, the candidates are the previously mentioned Rosati and Sue Gerard. For the reasons listed in my earlier post and more, I have no problem endorsing Gerard, the Republican former legislator and State Health Director.

She may not be perfect, but compared to her opponent... :)


In District 4, the candidates are the aforementioned Bicknell and current chair of the board Gerald Cuendet, PhD. Cuendet is a Republican and a retired school administrator. As with District 1, the race comes down to a Rep hard-liner and someone who isn't quite conservative enough to suit other hard-liners. Pick your poison here.


District 5 has the most wide-open race, with five candidates running - the GOP-endorsed Hansen, Alice Lara, Joan Kelchner, James Marovich, and Jonathan Weisbuch.

Alice Lara is a Republican and a lobbyist who works for Copperstate Consulting, a Phoenix lobbying firm run by AZ Republican operator Stan Barnes. According to this post from Sonoran Alliance, she has been endorsed by Joe Arpaio and Andrew Thomas. If you think that's a good thing, you're probably reading the wrong blog.

Republican Todd Hansen lists his occupation as "investment advisor" for Edward Jones. The fact that his presence in the race means that Rep insider Lara (and anyone associated with Stan Barnes is *way* inside :) ) isn't conservative enough for the GOP hard-liners should tell you all that you need to know about him as a candidate.

Joan Kelchner is a doctor and a (I think!) former member of the Phoenix Planning Commission (Business Journal of Phoenix). She's a Democrat who seems to have been endorsed by Congressman Ed Pastor, at least based on the flier linked to the word "doctor."

Marovich is a lawyer with his own firm. He's a Democrat and has experience as a senior hospital administrator.

Weisbuch is a doctor and former Maricopa County Health Officer. He's well educated (besides his MD from NYU, he's earned an engineering degree from MIT) and highly experienced (roughly 40 years experience in public health and in academic work.)

No endorsements here because I can't make up my mind between Weisbuch and Kelchner. And since I don't live in the district, I don't have to.


The pattern that I've noted before holds true here - the Republicans tend to field candidates who are strong on ideology, the Democrats field candidates who are strong on resume. Stratton and Rosati may offer resume of a sort, but the Republicans' support of their candidacies is based on hard-line anti-public service ideology, not on any medical experience the candidates may bring.

I just wish that the Dems had found qualified candidates in districts other than the overwhelmingly Democratic #5 (the same district as county supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox, and one that is similar to Congressman Ed Pastor's CD4).

Later!

The voter registration deadline is fast approaching for November's election

No snarkiness, just a PSA...

The Obama campaign sent out an email today, reminding Arizonans that the deadline to register to vote in the November election is next Monday, October 6th. Register to vote here.

Other important dates related to this election -

Thursday, October 2 - Early voting begins. Maricopa County voters can request a ballot here; voters in other counties should contact their county's County Recorder's Office for early ballot info.

Friday, October 24 - Early voting request submittal deadline.

Tuesday, November 4 - Election Day.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009 - Our long national nightmare ends. Unless Florida still hasn't learned how to count. (OK, so I couldn't resist a *little* snarkiness. :)) )

Later!

The John Sydney McCain Memorial Crappie Award - Debate Edition

OK, OK - I admit that I named this award after McCain because he was always a contender for it and his constant presence in the race for the award interfered with the ability of other contenders to earn their moments in spotlight.

Naming the award after him was a way of giving McCain the 'flip-flop' notice the he always seems to merit without ever giving him the award.

However, after his performance at the debate on Friday night, McCain win the latest edition of the Crappie-st award in politics.

First, during the debate question on the Russian invasion of Georgia, he said things like -

"...Russia committed serious aggression against Georgia..."

{snip}

"...But we also have every right to expect the Russians to behave in a fashion and keeping with a -- with a -- with a country who respects international boundaries and the norms of international behavior."

Funny, he wasn't so concerned with the behavior of the U.S. when it ignored "international boundaries" and "the norms of international behavior" and agressively invaded Iraq without anything resembling just cause (lies about WMDs don't count as 'just cause'.)

But that was a relatively small flip flop compared to another Iraq War-related flip-flop (OK, it was more an example of shameless hypocrisy, but that works for this series of posts).

"Honor"

Six times during the debate, McCain used the word "honor" (or a variant of it) in relation to the war in Iraq. The first instance was in reference to coming "home with victory and with honor."

Ummm, some may consider this rude and even impertinent, but where was McCain's concern for honor *before* he supported Bush's invasion of a country that hadn't done anything to us, or was even a threat to do so?

The troops involved, other than a few notable exceptions (i.e. - Abu Ghraib), have been honorable in their service. However, the leaders like Bush and McCain who directed them to serve, kill, and die in Iraq should be hanging their heads in shame.

And that hypocritical cloaking of himself in "honor" when he should instead working to cleanse himself of the shame of the worst American political shame in generations (the campaign to exterminate Native Americans was worse), *that* is why John McCain has won the latest edition of his own award, The John Sydney McCain Memorial Crappie Award.


A transcript of the debate, courtesy the L.A. Times, here.

Damn! I *so* wanted to be on that jury...

First, I read this story (from AP via KYPost.com) -

SOUTH CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) -- Call it a case of assault with a smelly weapon. Police in West Virginia accuse Jose Cruz of passing gas -- then fanning it toward an officer.

Mr. Cruz was later charged with battery on an officer and drunken driving (What? You were shocked that a guy who farted and directed it toward a cop was drunk at the time. :)) )

I saw this story earlier today and seriously considered moving to West Virginia so that I'd have a chance to sit on the jury when a police officer stood up in court to explain that he was injured by a fart. I had all sorts of witticisms planned like "Cruz potentially faces other, more serious, charges like 'disturbing the peace - tooting' and 'ADW - flatulence'.

Now that I'm home, however, I'm glad I didn't do anything rash (and I'm pretty sure that living in WV would have eventually involved a rash :) ).

This story was hitting the wires by the time I made it home (courtesy AP) -

A West Virginia man accused of passing gas and fanning it toward a police officer no longer faces a battery charge. The Kanawha County prosecutor's office requested that the charge be dropped against 34-year-old Jose Cruz.

The story didn't give a reason for the prosecutor's move to drop the charge, though I expect the desire not to be subject to national ridicule may have played a part in the decision.

Later!

McCain campaign: Plan A isn't working, so it's time for Plan B

Based on today's news, traipsing around the country letting voters get to know him isn't working for McCain, so the Senator with the worst attendance record is heading back to work, hoping that *not* letting voters see him will help his candidacy.

The McCain campaign, which for the last couple of weeks has all but ignored the crisis in the financial services sector (hereafter referred to as "Wall Street"), other than to say that "the fundamentals of the economy are strong."

Today, though, a new Washington Post/ABC News poll of Americans (hereafter referred to as "Main Street") shows Barack Obama is widening his lead over McCain in their quests for the presidency.

The McCain response? To "suspend" his campaign and request (beg!) that the Obama campaign cooperates with his Hail Mary pass attempt and do the same. (BTW - I'm not the first to use the "Hail Mary" allusion - Rep. Barney Frank called McCain's ploy "the longest Hail Mary pass in the history of either footballs or Marys.")

Breaking: Obama has declined to suspend the campaign or to postpone Friday's first presidential debate, scheduled to take place in Oxford, Mississippi.


I do have one question (of the semi-rhetorical variety) - Has anyone with the McCain campaign researched the success rate of Hail Mary passes in the NFL?

I don't know the actual stats on that, but in all the games that I've watched, out of dozens of attempts, I can't recall more than three or four that worked.

Bottom line: while the election is less than a month and a half away, it's still too early to go to "gadget" plays born of desperation (as much as it disappoints me as a Democrat and an Obama supporter, he's just the stronger candidate right now. He's *not* walking away with the election. Yet. :) )

Later!

A rare* public appearance by Joe Arpaio

On Thursday, Joe Arpaio will be speaking at the September meeting of the Community Council of Scottsdale.

The meeting will be at 7:00 p.m. at the Granite Reef Senior Center in Scottsdale.

For most of us, this might be the only chance to see Joe Arpaio during this election cycle, unless you go to one of his many fundraisers or press conferences (or one of his many anti-Mexican immigrant sweeps). He's refused to debate Dan Saban, the retired police chief who is challenging Arpaio in November's election.

Apparently Arpaio believes that if he just ignores Saban long enough, he and the thousands of Maricopa County voters who are fed up with Arpaio's self-serving bullying and nativism will just go away.

To Joe and his supporters: Don't count on it.

* rare = no TV cameras expected.

Proof that there is a God in Heaven...

If the rumor is true, anyway...

From PolitickerAZ -

Rumor on the streets is Vice-President Dick Cheney is coming to Arizona for a fund raising event with AZ-5 Republican David Schweikert. Evidence points to a fund raising event by either Cheney or George Bush in the near future.

Ya know, Harry Mitchell's opponent in 2006, JD Hayworth, was hardly a choir boy, but compared to Dick "Go F*ck Yourself" Cheney (R - Halliburton), he was a paragon of virtue.

And if the Schweikert campaign wants to bring Cheney in, I'm sure as hell not going to try to talk them out of the notion.

It'll be an early Christmas gift for Democratic bloggers everywhere, though especially in CD5. :)

Letter to Congressman Mitchell re: the Wall Street bailout proposal

Surprisingly enough, occasionally I *can* exercise some self-restraint, and a letter to my Congressman is one of those occasions.

The letter -

Dear Congressman Mitchell,

I am writing on the subject of the proposed $700 billion bailout of Wall Street that the Congress will be considering this week.

I urge you to not support any package that doesn't include stringent oversight provisions, both for the firms receiving assistance and for the Secretary of the Treasury, who has demanded almost-dictatorial powers regarding the disbursement of the funds.

In addition, any bailout package should include provisions that bar 'golden parachutes' for the executives of any firm that receives assistance in any amount.

Lastly, any package that involves taxpayer monies must include fiscally responsible safeguards to ensure that any assets acquired under the bailout are purchased at fair value, not at a value chosen by Wall Street or its cheerleaders in the Bush Administration. In addition to that, the package should be structured so that when the affected firms return to solvency (as most will), the taxpayers are the first investors in those firms to receive a return on their investment.

Thank you for your consideration of this.

Regards,

[cpmaz]

Some of the stuff that I didn't put into the letter (you know, the 'amazingly self-restrained' part :) ) -

Congressman Mitchell, please don't allow your colleagues or yourself to be stampeded into approving the blank check that the Bush Administration has demanded. Since January 21, 2001, these people have been lying to the world, to the American people, and most importantly for the purposes of this letter, to Congress.

They've lied us into an unjust war (weapons of mass destruction and more here),through an inept natural disaster relief effort ("you're doing a heckuva job, Brownie"), and into undermining the Constitution (Patriot Act and FISA renewal).

In short, the people behind the crisis, the bailout package, and the insistent hysteria surrounding both are men and women without honor, integrity or even the barest shred of civic conscience. There might be individuals within the group that are worthy of trust and respect

In some form, the proposed bailout may ultimately be necessary to minimize the damage that Wall Street's greed causes on Main Street. That doesn't mean that America's taxpayers or their elected representatives in Congress give up the keys to the treasury and walk away, regardless of the dire predictions of Bushies like Henry Paulson and Ben Bernanke.

There's a saying that Republican President Ronald Reagan used in reference to the old Soviet Union that fits pretty well here -

"Trust but verify."

The John Sydney McCain Memorial Crappie Award

Time for another edition of the award for political flip-floppery that every politician dreads even being considered for, much less receiving.

Apparently, the plaque that commemorates this award, with its real mounted Crappie, becomes "aromatic" rather quickly, distracting the staffers who work in the offices where the winners so proudly display it. :)

There was a spirited competition for the award this week, with John McCain, the namesake of this thoroughly uncoveted award, making a run for it.

From an article about the candidates' personal cars, in the latest edition of Newsweek magazine -

"I've bought American literally all my life and I'm proud," McCain said in the interview with Detroit's WXYZ-TV.

Then the article goes on to list the McCains' *fleet* of vehicles -

"There's a 2005 Volkswagen convertible in the garage along with a 2001 Honda sedan. Otherwise, there's a 2007 half-ton Ford pickup truck, which might come in handy on the Sedona ranch; a vintage 1960 Willys Jeep; a 2008 Jeep Wrangler; a 2000 Lincoln; and a 2001 GMC SUV. The McCains also own three 2000 NEV Gem electric vehicles, which are bubble-shaped cars popular in retirement communities."

In addition to the imported VW convertible and the Honda sedan listed in the paragraph, the article mentioned another import, a Toyota Prius, that was purchased for the McCains' daughter. There's yet another import, a Lexus, that's used by Cindy McCain, but that one doesn't count because it is registered to her family's beer distributorship.

I would love to go on about how McCain's flip flop on American-made products and jobs for American workers, but in this week's finned follies competition, this is nothing but "normal" campaign hyperbole.

(And for the sake of giving this week's award to the person I wanted to award it to anyway, I'm going to ignore McCain's spinal cord-shearing flip flop on regulation of America's financial markets this week. During the yet-to-be-penned election post-mortems, this past week will go down as the point when the McCain campaign succeeded in locking his "I'm a maverick. Trust me!" wool over America's eyes or as the point where America finally realized how full of Crappie McCain really is. Check back in a month and a half for an update. :) )


The second and more serious contender for the award was President George W. Bush. He and his Treasury Secretary, Henry Paulson, are pushing a plan to bail out Wall Street that will cost taxpayers to the tune of $700 billion.

This is after a year during which Bush spent most of his time opposing and threatening to veto any plans to help out Main Street homeowners dealing with the mortgage crisis.

I'd speak (at length! :) ) about how Bush's concern for those facing financial stress seems to be directly proportional to their tax bracket, but since he actually broke down and signed a mortgage relief act, the Wall Street bailout isn't quite a flip flop of "crappie" proportions.


Nope, this week's award goes to another regular contender for the award, Congressman John "Calgon, take me away" Shadegg.

First, he spent most of August bloviating in an empty House chamber, "protesting" the failure of Congressional Democrats to pass a measure authorizing more oil drilling near America's coasts.

So when the House considered a measure to do just that, did Shadegg support it? He decried the bill as a Democratic "hoax" and voted against it.

For that shameless flip flop of the "reverse one-and-a-half somersaults with a twist" variety, Congressman John Shadegg reels in this edition of the John Sydney McCain Memorial Crappie Award.

For more Southwestern finned follies, check out Desert Beacon in Nevada for a possible Sunday Morning Deck Bass sighting.


Later!

Presidential debate schedule

Since I've been getting a lot of traffic recently from people Googling "general election debate schedule" or something similar who are finding my post on the *Clean Elections* general election debate schedule, here is what those people are likely looking for - the schedule of debates for the Presidential election.

Courtesy the Commission on Presidential Debates -

First presidential debate

Friday, September 26

The University of Mississippi, Oxford, Miss.

Jim Lehrer Executive Editor and Anchor, The NewsHour, PBS


Vice presidential debate

Thursday, October 2

Washington University in St. Louis, Mo.

Gwen Ifill Senior Correspondent, The NewsHour, and Moderator and Managing
Editor, Washington Week, PBS


Second presidential debate (town meeting)

Tuesday, October 7

Belmont University, Nashville, Tenn.

Tom Brokaw Special Correspondent, NBC News


Third presidential debate

Wednesday, October 15

Hofstra University, Hempstead, N.Y. Bob Schieffer

CBS News Chief Washington Correspondent, and Host, Face the Nation


Each debate will begin at 9:00 p.m. EST.

While each debate will be moderated by someone from an MSM organization, the debates will be broadcast on multiple cable and broadcast networks. I recommend C-SPAN.

According to the Navy, daylight saving time doesn't end until November 2 this year, so all of the debates should begin at 6:00 p.m. AZ time, though you should check your local listings to be sure.

Later!

I shoulda paid more attention in CCD...

From AP via the Tacoma News-Tribune -

JUNEAU – Alaska’s investigation into whether Gov. Sarah Palin abused her power ran into intensified resistance Tuesday when the attorney general said state employees would refuse to honor subpoenas in the case.

{snip}

Also Tuesday, five Republican state lawmakers filed a lawsuit against an investigation they called “unlawful, biased, partial and partisan.” None serves on the bipartisan Legislative Council that unanimously approved the inquiry. They want it pushed past the election or top Democrats removed from the probe.

Liberty Legal Institute, a Texas-based legal advocacy group, was working on the lawsuit. The institute has taken on a variety of cases in defense of conservative Christian positions.

OK, so the first paragraph isn't really much of a surprise - Bush's henchmen and -women (and other D.C. big-leaguers) have been ignoring subpoenas for years and getting away with it so we should have expected Republican minor-leaguers to start adopting the tactic.

And the second quoted paragraph shouldn't be a surprise either - it's a standard criminal defense tactic to attack the accuser when you don't have a real defense (like innocence!).

But the third paragraph is rather eye-opening.

Why would a group whose track record is one of opposing any restrictions on Christian activists and organizations (suing to stop zonings laws that affect churches, threats to a church's tax-free status due to political activity, etc.) choose to defend brazen political corruption? How is misuse of office a "Christian" position?

OK, I'm the first to admit that I'm not an expert on the nuances of the Bible, but could someone clarify this one? Please?

Note: Due to my changed work schedule, posting will be light and brief until I adapt (I am most definitely *not* a 'wake up at 4 in the morning' kind of guy :) )...

Later!

I guess loan sharking pays well...

I may be going out on a limb here, but it seems that the payday loan industry is a *highly* profitable one. They certainly have an awful lot of available cash to throw around.


According to the AZ Secretary of State's website, the Arizona Community Financial Services Association (ACFSA) contributed $2,395,063.31 to their political committee in support of Prop 200.

Just on September 15.

And that's on top of the $4.9 million on July 16, the $927K on July 21, and the hundreds of thousands every couple of weeks since the beginning of the year.

According to the committee's latest financial report of activity through August 13 (dated August 21, 2008), they've spent more than $6.8 million in support of their ballot measure to permanently allow payday loan schemes in Arizona with $8.9 million in contributions from ACFSA.


Folks, I may not know what any of you are doing for a living, but I can state unequivocally that we are all in the wrong lines of work.

Well...wrong lines of work if base avarice is our primary motivation for doing what we do.

Later!