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Bankruptcy Bill Set for Passage; Victory for Bush

By STEPHEN LABATON

Published: March 9, 2005

WASHINGTON, March 8 - The Senate assured final passage of the first major overhaul of the nation's bankruptcy laws in 27 years on Tuesday, when it took two votes that cleared the remaining political obstacles to a measure that the nation's credit and retail industries have sought for years.

The bill would disqualify many families from taking advantage of the more generous provisions of the current bankruptcy code that permit them to extinguish their debts for a "fresh start." It would also impose significant new costs on those seeking bankruptcy protection and give lenders and businesses new legal tools for recovering debts...

The sponsors of the legislation say that it will have the effect of lowering the costs of goods and services for all consumers by making it easier for companies and issuers of credit to collect unpaid debts rather than passing those costs on to everyone else.

But critics said the measure was a thinly disguised gift to banks and credit card companies, which, they contend, are largely responsible for the high rate of bankruptcies because they heavily promote credit cards and loans that often come with large and largely unseen fees for late payments. They said that the measure would impose new obstacles on many middle-income families seeking desperately needed protection from creditors, and that it would take far longer for those families to start over after suffering serious illnesses, unemployment and other calamities.

http://nytimes.com/2005/03/09/business/09b...artner=homepage

****

This is disgusting :reallymad: :reallymad:

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And the Democrats, such as Joseph Biden and Joe Lieberman, who went along with this onerous windfall for the credit card companies should be tarred and feathered. In 2008, when Biden tries for the presidential nomination, this will sink him.

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Teresa Heinz: 2004 Presidential Election was Hacked!

http://www.drudgereport.com/flash3thk.htm

***

Quite possible - Kerry was leading in every Ohio poll...

the night of 2. nov was the first time in ages i'd gone to sleep feeling good about the country. it was also the last.

ps, what dude and kooperman said.

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And the Democrats, such as Joseph Biden and Joe Lieberman, who went along with this onerous windfall for the credit card companies should be tarred and feathered. In 2008, when Biden tries for the presidential nomination, this will sink him.

I would not vote for either based on this vote...

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The Senate's moral bankruptcy

The pending bankruptcy bill reads like a wish list for the credit card industry -- and couldn't be nastier to the average American consumer.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

By Arianna Huffington

March 10, 2005  |  U.S. senators are about to pass a bankruptcy bill so hostile to ordinary American families that it could only have come about in a place as corrupt, cynical and unmoored from reality as Washington, D.C.

In a normal world, those elected to represent the interests of the people would have fought for bankruptcy legislation that would, well, represent the interests of the people. But not in Beltway Bizarroland. Instead of cracking down on predatory lending practices, closing loopholes that favor the wealthy, and strengthening the safety net for working people, single mothers and elderly Americans struggling to recover from a financial setback, the Senate put together a nasty little bill that reads like a credit industry wish list. Rubbing salt in the wound, Sen. Charles Grassley, the bill's chief sponsor, labeled it the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 -- even though it does nothing to prevent bankruptcy abuse or protect consumers.

So what does the bill do? It makes it harder for average people to file for bankruptcy protection; it makes it easier for landlords to evict a bankrupt tenant; it endangers child-support payments by giving a wider array of creditors a shot at post-bankruptcy income; it allows millionaires to shield an unlimited amount of equity in homes and asset-protection trusts; it makes it more difficult for small businesses to reorganize while opening new loopholes for the Enrons of the world; it allows creditors to provide misleading information; and it does nothing to rein in lending abuses that frequently turn manageable debt into unmanageable crises. Even in failure, ordinary Americans do not get a level playing field.

Credit card companies have been feverishly lobbying for this legislation for nearly a decade -- and it looks like the $34 million the finance and credit industries have contributed to political campaigns since 1996 is finally about to pay off. On Tuesday, the cloture vote on the bill was 69 to 31. The House passed similar legislation last year, and GOP leaders are hoping to bypass the conference committee deadlocks that have derailed similar measures in the past and to get the bill on President Bush's desk in short order. The president, well aware that credit card giant MBNA is one of the Republican Party's largest donors, has promised to sign the bill as soon as someone hands him a pen.

Make no mistake, the inequitable nature of the bill -- bending over backward to help the credit card industry while sticking it to American working people who fall on hard times -- is no accident. Time and again over the last week, the Senate shot down amendments that would have made the bill a bit less mean-spirited. They denied proposals that would have made it easier for military veterans, the sick and the elderly to qualify for bankruptcy protection. They even rejected an amendment that would have put a 30 percent ceiling on the interest rates credit card companies can charge. Thirty percent -- that's more than Paulie Walnuts charges. But 74 U.S. senators -- including John Kerry, Harry Reid, Barack Obama and Dick Durbin -- clearly thought that wasn't high enough. Quick, somebody send those guys a Bible bookmarked to Deuteronomy 23:19: "Thou shalt not lend upon usury to thy brother."

For years, credit card companies have been claiming that tougher laws are needed to rein in high-flying customers using bankruptcy to game the system. But the truth is that the vast majority of people who file for bankruptcy are middle-class folks who can't pay their bills because they've lost their jobs or been hit with high medical bills or gone through a divorce.

Indeed, a recent study by Harvard University found that half of last year's 1.6 million bankruptcies were the result of crushing medical bills. Put another way: Every 30 seconds, someone in this country files for bankruptcy in the wake of a serious illness. How's that for a shocking stat? Here's another: Three-quarters of the so-called medically bankrupt had health insurance. It just wasn't enough to cover the dramatic rise in healthcare costs.

But instead of adapting to this harsh new reality, where hard-working, college-educated, middle-class folks can be financially destroyed by a sudden illness, the Senate is about to approve a one-size-fits-all law that treats a family man who has sunk into debt because of a heart attack the same as a con artist who maxes out his MasterCard, then refuses to pay up.

Worst of all, the bill does absolutely nothing to protect consumers from the aggressive tactics credit card companies have devised in recent years -- tactics that have proven hugely profitable. Along with sending out over 5 billion solicitations a year, they are constantly developing new ways to stick it to the people they've already lured into the tent. For instance, companies now routinely jack up a cardholder's interest rate when their payment is late -- and, presto, a "fixed" 7 percent APR is suddenly transformed into a cash-gobbling 30 percent loan.

There has also been an explosion in the fees that credit card companies charge: late fees, balance transfer fees, cash-advance fees, over-the-limit fees. Such fees bring in billions and are partly responsible for the fact that, even as personal bankruptcies in America have steadily increased, so have the profits of credit card companies -- which reached a whopping $30 billion last year.

So tell me again: Just who is gaming the system?

It's one thing for credit card companies to exact their pound of flesh even as their profits soar. But shouldn't we hold our elected officials to a higher standard? The bankruptcy bill is morally bankrupt. And so is any senator who votes for it.

http://www.salon.com/opinion/huffington/20...rupt/index.html

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Bush calls for oil production on Alaska nature reserve

Thu Mar 10 2005 10:30:52 ET

COLOMBUS, Ohio, March 9 (AFP) - US President George W. Bush called Wednesday for development of US oil reserves in Alaska, including within the bounds of a wildlife refuge, to contend with the US undersupply of petroleum.

"To produce more energy at home, we need to open up new areas to environmentally responsible exploration for oil and natural gas, including the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge," Bush said, as he made a speech here.

Read more here:

http://www.drudgereport.com/flash3ba.htm

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U.S. Says It Has Withdrawn From World Judicial Body

By ADAM LIPTAK

Published: March 10, 2005

Prompted by an international tribunal's decision last year ordering new hearings for 51 Mexicans on death rows in the United States, the State Department said yesterday that the United States had withdrawn from the protocol that gave the tribunal jurisdiction to hear such disputes.

The withdrawal followed a Feb. 28 memorandum from President Bush to Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales directing state courts to abide by the decision of the tribunal, the International Court of Justice in The Hague. The decision required American courts to grant "review and reconsideration" to claims that the inmates' cases had been hurt by the failure of local authorities to allow them to contact consular officials.

The memorandum, issued in connection with a case the United States Supreme Court is scheduled to hear this month, puzzled state prosecutors, who said it seemed inconsistent with the administration's general hostility to international institutions and its support for the death penalty.

http://nytimes.com/2005/03/10/politics/10death.html

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Can it get any worse?

just wait. :mad:

edit: i was gonna link this to the worst thing i read all day but couldn't decide.

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Bush did lose this environmental skirmish, though...part of his queer skies.......I mean clear skies scam:

Senate Panel Deadlocks Over Pollution Bill

Senate Panel Deadlocks Over Top Bush Environmental Priority to Extend Air Pollution Deadlines

By JOHN HEILPRIN Associated Press Writer

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON Mar 9, 2005 — President Bush's top environmental priority giving power plants, factories and refineries more time to reduce their air pollution suffered a major setback Wednesday as a Republican-controlled committee rejected it in the Senate.

The Environment and Public Works Committee deadlocked on a 9-9 vote on Bush's "clear skies" bill, a name that Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., described as "akin to calling Frankenstein Tom Cruise."

For the complete story click here:

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=565778

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The Environment and Public Works Committee deadlocked on a 9-9 vote on Bush's "clear skies" bill, a name that Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., described as "akin to calling Frankenstein Tom Cruise."

:lol:

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White House defends video news releases

March 14, 2005  |  Washington -- The White House on Monday defended the administration's use of video news releases that are sent to television stations across the country and frequently used without any acknowledgment of the government's role in their production.

In an opinion last week, the Justice Department concluded that the practice was appropriate as long as the videos presented factual information about government programs. The memo was sent to heads of federal departments and agencies.

"The prohibition does not apply where there is no advocacy of a particular viewpoint, and therefore it does not apply to the legitimate provision of information concerning the programs administered by an agency," according to the Justice Department memo.

http://www.salon.com/news/wire/2005/03/14/news/index.html

***

Under Bush, a New Age of Prepackaged TV News

By DAVID BARSTOW and ROBIN STEIN

Published: March 13, 2005

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/13/politics...ticle_popular_1

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Many were subsequently broadcast on local stations across the country without any acknowledgement of the government's role in their production.

I thought the liberals were doing a better job of keeping up. :lol:

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Greenspan, Clinton Clash on Forecasts

Mar 15, 1:23 PM (ET)

By JEANNINE AVERSA

WASHINGTON (AP) - Alan Greenspan and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton clashed briefly Tuesday over rosy surplus forecasts the Federal Reserve Chairman relied on to support President President Bush's 2001 tax cuts, estimates that turned out to be considerably off the mark.

"It turns out that we were all wrong," Greenspan conceded at a Senate hearing.

"Just for the record, we were not all wrong, but many people were wrong," Clinton, D-N.Y., quickly shot back.

Greenspan lent critical support for Bush's first-term tax cuts, saying they would stimulate the then-ailing economy. Clinton and many Democrats voted against the tax cuts, arguing that they would mainly benefit the wealthy and that federal deficits would balloon.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20050315/D88RIG680.html

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If she was ever right on anything it is just a coincidence. Everyone in Dixie with a brain is sooooo glad she moved to NY to leech off of those suckers. :lol:

Hillary spoke the truth. Greenspan is a shill for the Bush Administration and the fat cats that it supports. The shame of it is all the skinny cats who don't understand they've been left out in the rain.

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and before that he was a shill for the Clinton bunch-o-crooks. They thought he was god when they were in the whitehouse. Now that they are out he is the devil. What a bunch-o-crybabies. :lol:

He's a sell out to everybody. :bigsmile:

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They thought he was god when they (Clinton)  were in the whitehouse.

Not I - and apparently, Hilary does not seem to be a past admirer, either.

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Like I said, he will sellout to anybody! Typical liberal crybaby bullshit. He sells out to them and he is ok but when he sells out to someone else they cry about it.

Generally I have found that taking the opposite side to Hillary on any issue puts me in good company. :bigsmile:

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Typical liberal crybaby bullshit. He sells out to them and he is ok but when he sells out to someone else they cry about it.

Huh? I said I didnt like him then or now...

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