pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.

deficits are good.

how can you fire yourself?

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Bailing out the financial sector will cost taxpayers $167 billion more than originally anticipated, according to a Congressional Budget Office estimate.

The original figure in January was $189 billion, but it is now $356 billion - $152 billion more for 2009 and $15 billion more next year, the CBO says in its March report updating the budget and economic outlook.

The CBO raised its projection because yields have increased on securities issued by the bailed-out financial institutions under the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program.

That means there will be an increase in the cost of the subsidy from the U.S. Treasury's purchase of preferred stock, asset guarantees and loans to automakers, the CBO said.

In addition, since the CBO issued its original cost estimate for the program, the Treasury announced additional deals with Bank of America and American International Group.

Those deals will be at rates higher than the averages in the CBO's original estimate. Also going up: the subsidy rates in the administration's $50 billion program to deal with home foreclosures.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/B/BAILOUT_COSTS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

and yet the mainstream media continues to call Obama and congress liberal democrats.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- When Democrats acted last month to give the District of Columbia long-denied voting rights in Congress, the powerful gun lobby saw a target too good not to take a shot at.

The National Rifle Association's lobbyists made it clear to lawmakers that they believed the bill should include a measure to overturn the capital's gun control laws. Left mostly unsaid, but well understood by all 535 members of the House and Senate, was that failure to do so would unleash a barrage of political pain on resisters.

The result showed the strong sway the NRA has even over a Congress dominated by liberal Democrats who mostly disagree with the organization's positions. The Senate voted overwhelmingly to add the gun-rights proposal. House Democratic leaders, fearing a tough vote on the issue, swiftly scrapped plans to consider the D.C. voting legislation.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CONGRESS_AT_GUNPOINT?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

ps concerning the article above....this congress is anything but liberal

kind of like the fox guarding the chicken coup, eh?

it's the presidents, even though the media continues to absolve Obama of responsibility on every issue.

Eliot Spitzer wants to know if the bailout of AIG was an inside deal among Goldman Sachs, the Treasury, and the Fed. Edward Jay Epstein, who has been unraveling conspiracy theories since the Warren Commission, examines the evidence.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-04-02/inside-the-aig-conspiracy-theories/

that's a new one!

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama's Democratic allies in Congress are taking only baby steps with his budget, putting off crucial decisions on his ambitious plans to expand health care, curb global warming and raise taxes on the wealthy.

Risk-averse Democrats, however, are merely kicking the can down the road rather than using the budget to give a real push to the president's agenda. On health care, global warming and even Obama's signature "Making Work Pay" tax cut, the pending House and Senate budget plans offer no clues as to how those big ideas might advance.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/B/BUDGET_BABY_STEPS_ANALYSIS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Religion is all about denying reality.

that a virgin human female got pregnant, that just being born makes a person automatically guilty (original sin), that any person who isn't a catholic will go to hell, etc.

Why on earth would anyone take these people seriously???

Oh yeah, Wall Street couldn't pay for all of Obama's campaign.

Israel's new ultra-nationalist foreign minister has said it is not bound by a US-sponsored 2007 agreement to reach a peace deal with the Palestinians.

"The Annapolis conference, it has no validity," Avigdor Lieberman said.

He was speaking at a handover ceremony at the foreign ministry, prompting his predecessor Tzipi Livni to interrupt and diplomats to shift uncomfortably.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7977002.stm

how long are we going to allow people's personal religious choices to trump the law.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama's Democratic allies in Congress are taking only baby steps with his budget, putting off crucial decisions on his ambitious plans to expand health care, curb global warming and raise taxes on the wealthy.

Indeed, key lawmakers are already playing "taps" over his proposals to chip away at wealthy people's ability to deduct charitable donations and mortgage interest at higher rates.

Instead, they designed a host of so-called reserve funds that give some modest procedural help to Obama initiatives but do nothing concrete to really advance them.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/B/BUDGET_BABY_STEPS_ANALYSIS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

they all claim to be under attack meanwhile they campaign to take away other people's rights.

something as a pollutant.

I thought we finally got past the people who don't think the greenhouse effect is real?

that child abusers use?

a truly beautiful person inside and out.

since Wall Street, which is located in the United States, caused this mess isn't that appropriate?

University of California $1,392,675

Goldman Sachs $1,035,095

Harvard University $831,110

Microsoft Corp $809,799

Google Inc $796,564

JPMorgan Chase & Co $700,808

Citigroup Inc $681,318

Sidley Austin LLP $604,938

University of Chicago $599,089

Stanford University $584,904

Skadden, Arps et al $564,345

Time Warner $540,051

UBS AG $529,869

IBM Corp $525,857

WilmerHale $525,792

Morgan Stanley $513,623

Columbia University $507,316

National Amusements Inc $506,751

Kirkland & Ellis $501,335

US Government $482,956

http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/contrib.php?cycle=2008&cid=N00009638

I'd say over $1 million in one year entitles Goldman Sachs to pull a string or two.

The following link is just for Goldman Sachs contributions http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.php?id=D000000085