In a not altogether unrelated matter, $700 billion of taxpayer money is being funneled to the banking industry -- more than the combined costs of the Marshall Plan, the Lousiana Purchase, the space program, The S & L bailout, the Korean War, the New Deal, the invasion of Iraq, the Vietnam War and the NSA program.

Don't forget that when Congress passed the SCHIP program Bush vetoed it because "we can't afford it." It's cost? 100 times less than that treasury looting known as a "bailout."

The real problem with SCHIP was that it was meant for children, who apparently aren't entitled to taxpayer funds, whereas these people can't shovel the dough at their old cronies on Wall Street fast enough.

The valium drip sounds like a good idea.

Because it's not about being right. It's about being powerful and gaming the system to their advantage. Yes, they were wrong. And yes, they are filthy rich for it. It is We The People who got screwed, and it is We The People who are going to have to force them to do what's right.

BTW, I don't see any signs of humility from that crowd.

That's just a load of bull. Blaming the powerless for causing a problem is not just malicious and perverse, it is illogical. Lenders always hold all the cards! They have the power. They decide whether to issue the loan. The borrower is powerless. It has been so for as long as humanity has existed. Further, no law has ever forced lenders to abandon proper underwriting practices. Believing what you do only blinds you to the real problems.

JugSouthgate covered the real causes of the housing collapse proper. I'd like to add one final factor that was instrumental in expanding the catastrophe to the rest of the financial and economic world: Credit Default Swaps. How they multiplied the problem is too hard to explain in a few words. So click my sig for a good explanation.

Will the dog wag the tail, or will the tail wag the dog? That is, will progressives be able to use this list to pressure Obama, or will the list only serve Obama's purposes?

Let's see:

• Blagojevich is a small time crook, trying to sell favors and influence. Though his actions are thoroughly corrupt and contemptible and merit prosecution, he hasn't killed anyone through any of the actions he has taken that I'm aware of.
• Bush is a big time crook, war criminal, shredder of the Constitution, destroyer of our economy, responsible for the unjustified displacement of over 2 million Iraqis, responsible for the unjustifiable deaths of a half-million or so Iraqis, responsible for the unjustifiable deaths of over 4000 US service members, and leader of a cabal of war profiteers.

Guess which one everyone in the MSM wants to impeach? Guess which one was described as engaging in a "political crime spree"? Guess which one is being investigated by a US Attorney? And lastly, guess which one's crimes have been dismissed by David Broder as mere "policy disputes"?

You, President-elect Obama, say we must come together. Well, Mr. Obama, there is a difference between coming together and becoming an accomplice to the most hateful views. People who preach hate and assasination, who demand that rights they themselve enjoy should be denied others, these people should be shunned in polite society. And yet here you are, giving such a person a bully pulpit. There are so many people out there who have worked tirelessly and selflessly for the lesser amongst us that you could easily have chosen one of them to give your invocation. This is a contemptible choice.

Needless to say, I won't be watching this Inauguration.

He would be a great choice. Here is a guy who is courageously trying to get half the population (women) represented in the Catholic Church's hierarchy, and is facing excommunication for it. How's that for inclusiveness? His efforts to close down the notorious School of the Americas are also noteworthy.

Hey, I'd even go for the Reverend Jeremiah Wright over Warren. At least I understand where Wright is coming from, and, from a theological and historical stand-point, what he is basing his message on.

But what to make of Warren, who supports an aggressive war, gives "peace medals" to a war criminal, advocates that a foreign head of state be "taken-out", equates every woman who has had an abortion to Nazis, and is prepared to deny others the same rights that he himself enjoys? In fact Warren represents everything I find disappointing about mainstream American Protestantism. Where was the outrage about the Iraq War? Where was the condemnation of our government for torturing and rendering people to places where they will be tortured? Where is the advocacy for the poor? Unlike Wright, who challenges his parishioners and urges America to change for the better, mainstream Protestantism appears only interested in validating and blessing our current status quo as the Right and Proper Way.

Joan, you've nailed this guy. "[T]he well-fed, well-coiffed Warren is full of himself". And, I'd add, as shallow as a mud puddle.

It seems to believe that the law is only for scum (that would be us). The Noble, Selfless Elites who have plundered and ruined our country should be immune!

WSJ, the only injustice here is that Libby isn't serving time, along with Addington, Cheney, Yoo, Bush, Rumsfeld and the other torturing, warmongering chickenhawk war-criminals that have ru[i]n[ed] our country for the last 8 years. We executed some high ranking Japanese and Germans for less.