Porkopolis

The Bailout's Dirty Little Secrets

Before it went down to a crushing defeat, top officials at the Treasury Department and Federal Reserve were describing the $700 billion bailout plan that failed Monday in starkly different terms during private conversations with Wall Street investors.

As most people know, the proposed bailout failed yesterday in a surprising 205-228 vote, defying the wishes of President Bush as well as Democratic and Republican party leaders. Overall, there were 140 Democrats in favor of the plan and 95 opposed, with 65 Republicans in support and 133 opposed.

Progressive bloggers were tipped off that Treasury officials were holding a secret conference call with Wall Street executives Monday before the vote and managed to access the call and listen in. What they heard reveals a lot about who really wields power in the U.S. political system, and how Congress — both Democrats and Republicans — shade the truth for constitutients.

Brother, Can You Spare $700 Billion?

I've been too wrapped up in our little ol' MidPoint Music Festival event to pay close attention to the political maneuvering around the federal bailout of Wall Street and Sen. John McCain's bailing on tonight's debate. But the debate seems to be back on, and it should be quite a show.

I'm just flabbergasted by the back-to-back weirdness of McCain dropping his campaign to rush back to Washington to oversee the Wall Street bailout plan, then apparently sitting through the big meeting with President Bush and Sen. Barack Obama and not saying anything of substance, and of Gov. Sarah Palin asserting once again that she has foreign policy experience because Alaska is next to Russia. It would all be a joke if the presidential election weren't such a serious matter.

Looking to bone up more on what exactly this $700 billion bailout is supposed to fix, I found this helpful essay on DailyKos. Of course Congress is going to go along with the plan, trimming a few edges off here and there, but the lack of details is outrageous.

Enjoy tonight's debate! I'll be out at MidPoint and taping it to watch it tomorrow, so don't tell me how it ends!

— John Fox

911 Texting

During a weather emergency, sirens go off to warn of an approaching tornado or other dangerous storm. They also the sound when other dangerous situations warrant attention. But how are you supposed to know that if you can't hear?

Most people turn to the radio or TV when unusual situations arise, but what recourse does anyone have -- including the deaf -- when there's no electricity?

The ways in which we communicate assume the receivers of information can see, hear and easily get around. Those who have additional considerations to deal with on a daily basis are on the minds of their family, friends and neighbors, but that’s not enough to make sure everyone has the information they need in the time of an emergency.

A Different Type of Bailout

Heeding the wishes of his recently deceased predecessor in the Oval Office, Harry S. Truman was the first U.S. president to try to implement universal healthcare insurance for all Americans, way back in November 1945.

Some 60-plus years later, and we still have 45 million Americans – about 15 percent of the population—without healthcare coverage and the number continues to rise.

As healthcare advocate Gerald Cavanaugh points out, the United States ranks 21^st in infant mortality and 16th in life expectancy, yet we spend 40 percent more per capita on healthcare than any other nation.

Laughing Weekend Fun

Laughing Brook joins the Great Outdoor Weekend (GOW) as a place to "learn about the importance of wetlands in reducing pollutants from storm water runoff at this constructed wetland and sculpture park across from Spring Grove Cemetery. Native plants and pervious pavement are just some of the ways to improve the water quality of Mill Creek."

More than just another urban park, Laughing Brook is a functional green space that has a lot to teach (see "If Fish Lived There" in the CityBeat issue of Sept. 29, 2007), and this weekend is the perfect opportunity to experience it first-hand.

The Informed Voter

Do you stand in the voting booth trying to make up your mind about a candidate because you haven't done enough research to know how you really feel? It takes to much time. How can you sort out the truth from the efforts of a PR machine to "plant" favorable information? What "independent" research group is really independent thereby making their information above suspicion?

For the time and/or effort challenged, Project Vote Smart offers a reasonable option.

"Picture this," the Project Vote Smart web site offers. "Thousands of citizens (conservative and liberal alike) working together, spending endless hours researching the backgrounds and records of thousands of political candidates and elected officials to discover their voting records, campaign contributions, public statements, biographical data (including their work history) and evaluations of them generated by over 100 competing special interest groups. Every election these volunteers test each candidate's willingness to provide citizens with their positions on the issues they will most likely face if elected through the Political Courage Test."

McCain Said What?

It's no longer surprising that Republican presidential nominee John McCain changes his positions like most people change their underwear.

McCain was for campaign finance reform before he was against it.

He was for helping undocumented immigrants earn a pathway to citizenship before he opposed it.

And McCain strongly criticized Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson and far-right evangelical Christians as "agents of intolerance" before he began cozying up to them to win votes.

But the latest gotcha moment is mind-boggling, as it involves the McCain campaign's golden child, running mate Sarah Palin.

The American Taliban Strikes Again

Forget those lame rumors about Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama being a secret Muslim. That's so spring 2008.

The latest rumors gaining momentum among the far-right political fringe is that Obama is the Anti-Christ, and Sarah Palin is a warrior anointed by God to stop him. No, really.

A large part of Republican presidential nominee John McCain’s campaign so far has consisted of using smears to spread false allegations against his Democratic rival — both officially sanctioned ones by his staff (like Obama supports sex education for kindergartners) and unofficial ones using the Internet, the same type of slime used so effectively against McCain himself during the 2000 Republican primary race in the South.

SORTA a Mess

A governing board that oversees Greater Cincinnati's Metro bus system will hold a rare weekend meeting tomorrow to discuss the latest development in an ongoing dispute about how the system is financed and controlled.

The Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority (SORTA) will convene a session of its board of trustees at 11 a.m. Saturday. The board will confer about Cincinnati City Council's decision Wednesday to give SORTA the legally required six-month notice that the city plans to end its contract with the agency. SORTA has operated the city's bus system since 1973.

Words of the Unwise

Sometimes I want to be able to make up some seriously outrageous stuff and publish it, just to see what the reaction is. Ethically, that isn't an option, but that doesn't mean I can't point you in the direction of some seriously hysterical stuff written by others that's all truth.

The following are from a collection of hideously bad analogies that were originally published in The Washington Post in 1999. Some things are simply worth repeating!

• Her face was a perfect oval, like a circle that had its two sides gently compressed by a Thigh Master.

• His thoughts tumbled in his head, making and breaking alliances like underpants in a dryer without Cling Free.

• He spoke with the wisdom that can only come from experience, like a guy who went blind because he looked at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it and now goes around the country speaking at high schools about the dangers of looking at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it.