WASHINGTON – Some of the nation's largest banks sharing in the $700 billion government bailout of the financial industry tried to assure lawmakers Thursday they are using the money to make more loans and help financially strapped homeowners avoid foreclosure.

Barry L. Zubrow, chief risk officer with JP Morgan Chase, told the Senate Banking Committee that a portion of the $25 billion capital infusion it received from the Treasury Department was being deployed to "expand the flow of credit" and to assist with rewriting residential mortgages for up to 400,000 families.

Zubrow and executives with Goldman Sachs Inc., Bank of America and Wells Fargo & Co. told the committee that that none of the $85 billion they have received collectively from the government is being used to pay salaries or bonuses.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081113/ap_on_bi_ge/meltdown_banks

just ask gays.

"I do not support gay marriage. Marriage has religious and social connotations, and I consider marriage to be between a man and a woman." (From the Human Rights Campaign's 2008 Presidential questionnaire) - Barack Hussein Obama

Wouldn't it be nice to have a president who put civil law above religious law?

don't forget it was MoveOn, etc. who hijacked the Dem party this year and forced an inexperienced and unqualified Obama upon us.

"But the purpose of the false tale was clear enough -- and those spreading it didn't mind smearing innocent people whose characters are superior to theirs."

it worked for Obama.

"I do not support gay marriage. Marriage has religious and social connotations, and I consider marriage to be between a man and a woman." (From the Human Rights Campaign's 2008 Presidential questionnaire) - Barack Hussein Obama

we know what that means.....corporate welfare for everyone!

Evidently $700 billion isn't enough.

Now the Dems want to give the automobile industry another $25 billion.

I guess it's a thank you for outsourcing most of their jobs and factories to other countries.

The White House got in a preemptive strike before lawmakers reported for work saying the special rescue funds for banks were not the answer, calling on Congress to adapt an existing 25-billion-dollar auto industry loan program.

"The administration does not want US automakers to fail, and in fact we support assistance to automakers," Bush's press secretary Dana Perino said.

But "we believe this assistance should come from the program created by Congress that was specifically designed to assist the automakers -- from the 25-billion-dollar Department of Energy loan program," she added.

"This is the appropriate funding to use for automakers rather than seeking an additional 25 billion dollars from the TARP program" -- the Troubled Asset Relief Program, as the bailout is known.

"The TARP program was never intended by Congress to assist automakers or other sectors of the economy -- it was solely intended to deal with what is an ongoing credit crisis in our financial sector."

The government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki is systematically dismissing Iraqi oversight officials, who were installed to fight corruption in Iraqi ministries.

The dismissals, which were confirmed by senior Iraqi and American government officials on Sunday and Monday, have come as estimates of official Iraqi corruption have soared. One Iraqi former chief investigator recently testified before Congress that $13 billion in reconstruction funds from the United States had been lost to fraud, embezzlement, theft and waste by Iraqi government officials.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/18/world/middleeast/18maliki.html

absolutely nothing.

From record corporate welfare to discrimination against gays.

When exactly did the Democrats become Republicans?

Oh yeah, when Dean/Pelosi/Reid took over and decided to give Bush every single thing he wanted.

The Dem congress is giving away hundreds of billions of dollars in corporate welfare.

I didn't realize the "change we could believe in" was the Democratic party turning into Republicans.

Have you seen the previews for Twilight.....it's the exact same movie as the Covenant, even down to the same set!

from record corporate welfare to a free pass on illegal wiretaps to confirming the most reactionary, right wing judges....how could there be anymore bipartisanship?

I suppose they could just morph into one party....at least THAT would save us some time and money.

I can't find one example of Republicans compromising to give Dems what they want.

Yet Dems are all too willing to sell out their constituents.

Say what you will about the Republicans.....at least they deliver to their base.

whether it was facing them down over the federal budget or refusing to discriminate against gays.

And you see how the Democratic Party repaid him.

The Dems have been running scared since Reagan, long before 911.

A hijacked Saudi-owned supertanker carrying more than $100 million worth of crude oil is believed to have anchored off Somalia and its owners are working toward “the safe and speedy return” of the 25 crew, the owners said Tuesday.

The vessel was headed for the United States when it was seized, Reuters reported.

Once pirates get aboard, however, the ship is theirs, because crews on commercial vessels are rarely armed, according to Mr. Choong and other maritime experts. “They are not mentally or physically fit enough to handle weapons,” he said.

Nor do many ship owners use armed contractors — seagoing mercenaries — to fight or ward off approaching pirates. Experts said crew safety and insurance liability were overriding concerns of captains and owners.

“We do not advocate this, having armed escorts on board,” said Lee Yin Mui, assistant director of research at the Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery Against Ships at Sea. Known as ReCAAP, the 16-nation network is based in Singapore.

“Armed escorts could only escalate the situation,” she said, “and perhaps trigger off heavy crossfire.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/19/world/africa/19pirate.html