GOP Claims Leverage on Bailout

Republicans are holding out on any bail out proposals being offered up for bail out measures in the current Wall Street financial debacle. What is the driving force behind their stand, and how will it affect the outcome of any proposal that does pass?

Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL) is not pleased with the Democratic proposals coming out to "bail out" for the financial system. Shelby, who until the early 90's served in the Senate as a Democrat, is no stranger to the way that Democrats do business, which is part and parcel the reason he chose to switch parties, with the support of the majority of his constituency in his home state of Alabama, who have chosen to return him to his office since his party switch.

Republicans by and large are claiming that they have the leverage that they need to make sure that any "bail out" that is approved be done the way that they want it to be done, otherwise they will continue to balk at proposals being laid forth by Democrats, claiming that the Democrats alone will be responsible for any flawed legislation that is passed in an effort to save the United States financial system.

Reps. Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) are leading an effort by House Republicans to circulate the set of principles to their colleagues and like-minded Democrats, according to a senior Republican.

Asked whether the effort comes too late, the GOP official said the votes would be leverage enough to have the principles considered by congressional negotiators.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has indicated that a bill will not be brought to the floor without broad Republican support.

GOP presidential candidate Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) and the White House have been made aware of their alternative.

Fingers are being pointed on both sides of the aisle, as always, as politicians attempt to pass the blame for the economic situation from one to the other, with neither side truly being capable of standing in either blame nor credit for the state of the nation's economy, unless it such blame lies in economic policies that put burdens upon American businesses and their ability to conduct trade and commercial ventures both at home and abroad. The decline of the American economy lies more in the way that we have been forced, by necessity of economic survival on the part of our industry, to have our manufacturing base moved overseas and off shore due to regulatory and tax structures that make it unprofitable for large industry to maintain operations domestically. Both parties can take credit for that development.

Who suffers? The American people. There is much caution that needs to be undertaken in any federal aid lent to the financial system; caution that the tenets of the United States Constitution are not violated, caution that any aid is not a first step towards nationalization of any industry, caution that any aid rendered does no harm to the American public.

To give credit where it is due, several Republican members of the House and Senate have been warning of this coming meltdown for years, with Democrats calling for and pushing legislation for cheaper and more available credit for the public. Cheap and easy credit, if one looks to history, were the main causes for the market failures leading to the great depression, a global economic nightmare that gave rise to the regime of Adolf Hitler and the Third Reich, a situation that I don't think anyone wishes to see repeated less than 100 years after the rise of the last world war.

Any "bail out," a misnomer created by the main stream media, once again, for a loan proposal in which money lent to the financial institutions would be repaid to the federal government, will have to be carefully crafted and such safeguards included that the monies lent are tightly regulated, monitored, and assurances made that there be no room for abuse of the funds lent to companies so that they can continue to operate. The failure of these businesses, the inability of banking and lending to lend money to business, means an overall shutdown of the American economy at large. Such a situation would have global repercussions, creating a hole in the economic stability of other nations who trade with us, and who, in turn, trade with other nations.

This is a much larger and more broad scoped problem than many people realize.

Once and Always, an American Fighting Man

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Hefner Sacking Bunnies? Imagine That...

As economic tides continue to be in turmoil, and economic advisers are recommending that CEO's make cutbacks in order to continue to operate, how does Hugh Hefner deal with the economic crisis? By firing models, of course.

Tough times have hit the Playboy mansion. While being held as a closely guarded secret, reports have leaked out that the multi-million dollar Playboy empire may be struggling with its budget. Only the top brass at the mansion are reported to really know the true situation going on financially in the Hefner empire and the "little house that Hugh built." Rumors are that Hefner has been advised to lay off some of his staff in New York and Los Angeles or face bankruptcy, which has been denied by Hefner spokeswoman Elizabeth Austin, who said, in response to the rumored sackings, "It is our policy not to comment on corporate matters such as employee issues."

The news will be another blow to Hefner who recently discovered that two of his "bunnies" may have been cheating on him.

Holly Madison, who has previously been named as Hefner's "No.1" girlfriend, is alleged to have had an affair with magician Criss Angel and another bunny, Kendra Wilson, is reportedly dating football star Hank Baskett.

Playboy spokesman Rob Hillburger denied the rumours, saying: "The rumours that Holly left Hef for Criss Angel are not true. Holly and Kendra are all still living at the Mansion."

Actually, I wasn't aware that Hefner was a man to cringe from a blow that was delivered to him, as he has made an entire industry into and of itself out of selling sex. One would have to think that sacking staff would be something of a common occurrence at the Playboy Mansion, but it seems to be that they take great umbrage at reports of anyone being sacked over the economy...

Once and Always, An American Fighting Man

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Senator Joseph Biden is the Mouse That Roared

Joe Biden, a long term Senator from Delaware cum Vice Presidential candidate, has taken upon himself the mantle of the attack dog for his running mate, Barack Obama. But is it working, or is Biden finding himself trying too hard to make himself heard?

In Leonard Wibberley's novel and the subsequent Peter Sellers movie of the same name released in 1959 The Mouse that Roared, a small and insignificant country does the unthinkable, with hilarious results; they attack the United States. While the truth is indeed often stranger than fiction, in the novel, and the movie, the theme works, and the upstart little nation wins, by losing.

Joseph Biden, while not necessarily an insignificant political candidate, has, however, taken on a task that it could be argued that he isn't up for. Biden has undertaken to attack Republican Presidential candidate Senator John McCain over issues of foreign policy. Biden, of course, as chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, seems to think he has the upper hand on understanding how to handle foreign relations over John McCain, and possibly, in his own way of thinking, he does, as he in a recent speech criticized McCain over several points, including McCain's attitude toward Russia:

“John McCain has gotten it wrong on so many fundamental issues. Imagine; imagine if we had listened to John McCain when he tried to remove Russia from the G8. That’s the industrial nations, last year. Such a move would not have done anything to stop Russia from the inextricable and unfair and overwhelming invasion of an independent country of Georgia. But I tell you what it would have done: it would have triggered a crisis in our alliance since no one else in Europe thought that action should be taken. An alliance we now need, we now need to help us in dealing with Russian aggression.”

Is Biden saying here that Russia was stopped from invading Georgia? I don't know what news outlet he was watching or where he was getting his information, but Georgia was in fact invaded by the Russians this summer and there are still, today, Russian troops occupying territory inside what is sovereign Georgian territory. Of course, Senator Biden has a record of changing things a bit to suit his own purposes, himself, having supported, initially, the war in Iraq and then changing his position on that, as well as supporting military action in Bosnia.

Perhaps there is another issue that needs to be addressed in the case of Senator Biden in examining his attacks on John McCain over issues of foreign relations. Biden, who has been a lawyer and a politician for his entire working life (Biden is one of the six longest term senators to hold office in the nation), Biden doesn't have the up close and personal experience in dealing with representatives of foreign nations in the worst of times that McCain has:

John McCain's capture and subsequent imprisonment began on October 26, 1967. He was flying his 23rd bombing mission over North Vietnam, when his A-4E Skyhawk was shot down by a missile over Hanoi.[30][31] McCain fractured both arms and a leg, and then nearly drowned, when he parachuted into Truc Bach Lake in Hanoi.[30] After he regained consciousness, some North Vietnamese pulled him ashore, then others crushed his shoulder with a rifle butt and bayoneted him.[30] McCain was then transported to Hanoi's main Hoa Lo Prison, nicknamed the "Hanoi Hilton".[31]

Although McCain was badly wounded, his captors refused to treat his injuries, instead beating and interrogating him to get information, and he was given medical care only when the North Vietnamese discovered that his father was a top admiral.[33] His status as a prisoner of war (POW) made the front pages of major newspapers.[34][35]

McCain spent six weeks in the hospital while receiving marginal care.[30] Now having lost 50 pounds (23 kg), in a chest cast, and with his hair turned white,[30] McCain was sent to a different camp on the outskirts of Hanoi[36] in December 1967, into a cell with two other Americans who did not expect him to live a week.[37] In March 1968, McCain was put into solitary confinement, where he would remain for two years.[38]

A far cry, it would seem, from state dinners and conferences. McCain is often criticized by opponents and naysayers about having no experience outside of politics and military service. That same scrutiny can be applied to Senator Biden, who is one of the six longest term senators to serve in Washington, and to Barack Obama, as well, whose work as a "community organizer" is a dressed up name for "lobbyist." Adding to that Biden's failure twice to win in a bid of his own for his party's nomination for party candidate for the Presidency, Biden, in what could be considered a conciliatory position as Vice Presidential candidate, could be, himself, that roaring mouse trying to make a bluster and noise bigger than he is capable of achieving.

Once and Always, an American Fighting Man

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