Obsolete Certainty

In a major twist of fate, a federal judge today set aside the conviction of Alaska Republican Senator Ted Stevens and then appointed an independent investigator to look at possible misconduct on the part of prosecutors.

“In nearly 25 years on the bench, I’ve never seen anything approaching the mishandling and misconduct that I’ve seen in this case,” Judge Emmet Sullivan said.  Reportedly the federal prosecutors withheld evidence from Steven’s defense team.

It seems that AIG isn’t the only financial giant that is paying large executive bonuses after being bailed out by the U.S. Taxpayer.  Both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the giant mortgage agencies, are reportedly set to pay over $210 million in bonuses over the next 18 months.

However, absent this time are the steady stream of the usual suspects denouncing the “obscene payments”. Apparently absent this time are the protests outside the homes of employees of Fan and Fred.  Interesting.

Apparently at least one Washington insider is upset.  Iowa Senator Charles Grassley is quoted as saying “It’s an insult that the bonuses were made with an infusion of cash from taxpayers. The elite in Washington and New York need to realize that bonuses for poor performance and at taxpayer expense do a lot of damage to public confidence.”

At least this time Grassley didn’t suggest that Fannie and Freddie executives go Japanese.

Acting Office of Thrift Supervision Director Scott Polakoff has been placed on leave pending an internal investigation of the agency’s role in allowing troubled thrifts to backdate capital infusions.

According to the Wall Street Journal, OTS Chief Counsel John Bowman will run the agency in the interim.

Apparently the nation’s economic problems have been solved. Apparently the budget has been balanced. Apparently the financial regulatory structure has been reformed.

Otherwise what else could explain why the U.S. Senate has decided to tackle the nation’s number one problem – The college football BCS system.

If this is what passes for leadership, we are so screwed.

Well. Whaddayaknow!  It turns out that the Obama economic stimulus bill contained a specific clause that permitted the type of executive bonuses that are causing all this rage.  Of course we knew then that few if any one had read the stimulus bill before the vote. I guess that will jump up and bite some folks in the backside.

Link

More proof that Democrats want you and I to pay more taxes, but don’t believe they should have to pay their fair share. Another day, another Obama appointee.  This time it is former Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk who failed to pay close to $10,000 in taxes related to speaking fees that were donated to charity.

The White House stated that the failure to pay was a minor event.  Sure.  As they make plans to jack up my taxes to bailout every deadbeat banker and homeowner in the country.

Interesting information in the WSJ about what many U.S. mayors consider important projects to stimulate the national economy.  Apparently, the city of Austin believes that the economy is suffering due of a lack of frisbee golf courses.  Having spent a lot of time in Austin, I can believe they would be that misguided.

And apparently Las Vegas doesn’t think there are enough neon signs anymore. Apparently that is a major cause of the current recession. Granted, there isn’t as much neon in Vegas as in the good old days, but except for a couple of sign makers, I don’t see that really helping the economy out.  Sorry.

And my favorite comes from Shreveport, Louisiana. That fine city has requested stimulus money to build water parks. With water slides of course.  That should really get the ole GDP surging.

So Democrats want to raise my taxes (and yours) but apparently do not like to pay their own.  Interesting.

Or perhaps there is a silver lining. As one wag put it, there are now at least two cabinet level officials that believe taxes are too high!