But when it comes to this bailout of banks and investment firms and the automakers, I disagree with Bush and the democrats. And while I am certainly not embracing the republicans, it must be stated that those pushing for the bailout are Bush and the democrats in congress.

The problem with the economy started with deregulation in the 1980's. The republicans have pushed for it. This was continued in the 90's under Clinton. However Clinton did not take it as far as a republican would have. Also I would point out that Clinton carried out Perot's idea of reducing the deficit and paying down debt; something republicans refuse to even consider. Still I do not think it is a good idea to have people like Rubin who pushed for deregulation now overseeing the re-regulation of banks.

For anyone who might not know...

SAN FRANCISCO — The Bush administration on Tuesday will try to convince a federal judge to let stand a law granting retroactive legal immunity to the nation's telecoms, which are accused of transmitting Americans' private communications to the National Security Agency without warrants.

At issue in the high-stakes showdown — set to begin at 10:00 a.m. PST — are the nearly four dozen lawsuits filed by civil liberties groups and class action attorneys against AT&T, Verizon, MCI, Sprint and other carriers who allegedly cooperated with the Bush administration's domestic surveillance program in the years following the Sept. 11 terror attacks. The lawsuits claim the cooperation violated federal wiretapping laws and the Constitution.
[...]
On Tuesday, lawyers with the Electronic Frontier Foundation are set to urge the federal judge overseeing those lawsuits to reject immunity as unconstitutional. At stake, they say, is the very principle of the rule of law in America.
[...]
The judge presiding over the case, U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker of San Francisco, announced late Monday he wanted to discuss 11 questions (.pdf) at Tuesday's hearing, one of which goes directly to the heart of the immunity legislation.

"Is there any precedent for this type of enactment that is analogous in all of these respects: retroactivity; immunity for constitutional violations; and delegation of broad discretion to the executive branch to determine whether to invoke the provision?," the judge asked.

Carl Tobias, a professor at the University of Richmond School of Law, says the immunity legislation, if upheld, "makes it possible to extend immunity to other areas of the law."
[...]
The EFF is now challenging the immunity legislation on the grounds that it seeks to circumvent the Constitution's separation of powers clause, as well as Americans' Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable searches and seizures.

"The legislation is an attempt to give the president the authority to terminate claims that the president has violated the people's Fourth Amendment rights," the EFF's Cohn says. "You can't do that."

For those interested, the folks at the Wired blog will be covering the proceedings live.

[...]
Oral arguments in Walker's courtroom are scheduled for 10 a.m. PST on Tuesday. Threat Level will cover the proceedings live.
[...]

Links: http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/

http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/12/feds-eff-arguin.html

____________________
"It's all been satirized for your protection." --Maher

Reporter to Obama: Um, didn’t you belittle Hillary’s foreign policy cred during the primaries?
posted at 1:39 pm on December 1, 2008 by Allahpundit
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Sure he did, but you can’t hold him to things he said in the heat of battle. Remember, this is a guy who lied repeatedly on the stump about a pillar of American trade policy and then climbed down as soon as it was safe to do so. BS-ing about his contempt for Hillary’s qualifications is small potatoes by comparison.

Note Her Majesty nodding along at the beginning as Obama pointedly reaffirms that he’ll be the one setting policy. Lurking over her shoulder (literally, in some of the camera angles) is Susan Rice, who was originally touted for State or NSA and who’ll end up instead as ambassador to the UN — which The One now plans to make into a cabinet-level position. That’s significant for two reasons: (1) it signals to the public that he’s serious about “soft power” playing a vastly bigger role in his administration than it did in Bush’s, and (2) it signals to Hillary that if she steps out of line he has someone capable of replacing her without missing a beat. How capable? Maguire points out that while Rice is known for being hawkish on intervening against genocides, she had no problem with The One’s plan to pull out of Iraq notwithstanding the likely outcome. Which is just where Hillary stood at the time, except she was even blunter about it:

Asked if Americans would endure having troops in Iraq who do nothing to stop sectarian attacks there, Mrs. Clinton replied, “Look, I think the American people are done with Iraq. I think they’re at a point where, whether they thought it was a good idea or not, they have seen misjudgment and blunder after blunder, and their attitude is, what is this getting us? What is this doing for us?”

“No one wants to sit by and see mass killing,” she added. “It’s going on every day! Thousands of people are dying every month in Iraq. Our presence there is not stopping it. And there is no potential opportunity I can imagine where it could. This is an Iraqi problem — we cannot save the Iraqis from themselves. If we had a different attitude going in there, if we had stopped the looting immediately, if we had asserted our authority — you can go down the lines, if, if, if.”

I’m going to stop here before I talk myself out of supporting the pick again. Not shown in the video, incidentally: Joe Biden, who finally got to say a few words at one of these pressers because he is, of course, a foreign policy genius who got the surge just as wrong as Hillary did.

Texas judge dismisses Cheney, Gonzales charges
Christopher Sherman, Associated Press

(12-02) 04:00 PST Raymondville, Texas --

A judge dismissed indictments against Vice President Dick Cheney and former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on Monday and told the south Texas prosecutor who brought the case to exercise caution as his term in office ends.
More News

Willacy County District Attorney Juan Angel Guerra had accused Cheney and the other defendants of responsibility for prisoner abuse. The judge's order ended two weeks of sometimes-bizarre court proceedings.

Guerra is leaving office at the end of the month after being soundly defeated in the March primary election.

"I suggest on behalf of the law that you not present any cases to the grand jury involving these defendants," Administrative Judge Manuel Banales said in court while ruling that eight indictments against Cheney, Gonzales and others were invalid.

Three of the eight indictments returned Nov. 17 targeted private prison operator the GEO Group, state Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr., Cheney and Gonzales, as part of an investigation into prisoner abuse at privately run federal prisons in the county.

Guerra ran the investigation into alleged prisoner abuse with a siege mentality. He worked it from his home, dubbed it "Operation Goliath" and kept it secret from his staff, he said. He gave all the witnesses biblical pseudonyms - his was "David."

Banales dismissed all eight indictments because GEO Group attorney Tony Canales showed that two alternate jurors were part of the panel that day but had not been properly substituted.

Five of the indictments - against two district judges, two special prosecutors and the district clerk - were dismissed because Guerra was the alleged victim, witness and prosecutor. The indictments accused the five of abusing their power by being involved in a previous investigation of Guerra.

The indictment against Cheney alleged that his personal investment in the Vanguard Group, which invests in private prison companies, made him culpable in alleged prisoner abuse at privately run federal detention centers.

Gonzales was accused of using his position to stop an investigation into abuses at a federal detention center.