Ah, the Pause that Refreshes!

Image: World War I Color Photos

So the Senate passed the Bailout, 74-25, their usual count on Important Issues, and this Christmas Tree of a bill will now go to the House, where something like it will be passed, and then it will go to conference committee, where something closer to the original Paulson Plan will emerge, to be quickly approved by both houses, and thence to the President's Desk, where he will sign it, and append a Signing Statement that will get it right back to the beginning and the Extortion will be paid.

Whew!

We know the way these things go.

Always.

Of course with President Barack they won't go that way, but that's different. All of a sudden, the right wing authoritarians who have been backing every Constitution shredding action of the Bushevik Regime will rediscover that tattered parchment, and amazingly will insist on Adherence ThereUnto, without let or hindrance, and the Dems, being Dems, will say "Uh, OK."

And for years nothing will really get done at all in Congress, and the Presidency will not be used in its current Autocratic Mode, but will be quiet and persusasive and try to convince recalcitrant Republicans to do what is best for the Public Interest.

So obviously, nothing will get done at all.

Despite constant and enormous crisis from every direction. If things continue on their current path, it could well be that the Natives Around the World will commence to throw off the Yoke of Hegemony, assert their own Public Interest with people like Putin and Morales and Chavez -- among many others -- to lead them on their way to Freedom, Justice and Dignity.

It would seem that Osama's Plan is working just fine.

And why in the course of these recent events was the focus once again on the Duality of either going along with the Paulson Plan or Doing Nothing? Have they learned nothing during the disasters of the past eight years? The choice is not limited to something terrible or doing nothing at all. And yet that all our Ruling Class seems to be able to see. Ever.

And so... The Decline continues.

Welcome to America.

[Followup: The House passed the Senate bill without amendment, so there was no conference committee. Bush signed it, so far without a signing statement. Clearly all that Treasury and the White House wanted was authorization to spend the money, and they got that. Everything else was just decor. Something needs to be emphasized: the process in Congress and through to the signing was just the way the legislative process is supposed to happen. Except for one thing: the People were and are deeply, fundamentally opposed to this measure. Consequently, the Congress, though following set procedure, and pretending to act in the interests of the public studiously ignored them, except on Monday when the House rejected the bill. But the conclusion was foregone. There was no chance at all that the Congress would reject the White House demands in the end. No matter what the People wanted. Which, in essence, is about as perfect a deonstration of the corruption and futility of our legislative process as you could want. -- Ché]