(no subject)

[hatman]

Video about the (failed) auto bailout, for anyone interested in the issue:

Link, since LJ won't let me use their embedding format...

And One More Thing...

Update: Bush to the rescue! Look, he's doing something right! Still working out the details, but, in a sudden (and pretty much total) reversal, he says they're going to use some of the $700B in TARP bailout money, after all. Our blue collar workers, manufacturing base, unions, and all the related industries (parts manufacturers, metal refineries, stores and services used by auto workers, etc etc) actually have a chance!

Bush makes an end run around a congressional decision, by making unilateral use of some of the unchecked power he's gained from fear-mongering, and... it's a good thing. Wow. So that's how it feels.

By my count, this brings the total number of things he's done right in over eight years to... let's see... three.

In other news, a bit more on torture, and in specific, a report from a bipartisan Senate panel (cowritten by John McCain). From the Washington Post:

"The abuse of detainees in U.S. custody cannot simply be attributed to the actions of 'a few bad apples' acting on their own," the report states. "The fact is that senior officials in the United States government solicited information on how to use aggressive techniques, redefined the law to create the appearance of their legality, and authorized their use against detainees."

The report is the most direct refutation to date of the administration's rationale for using aggressive interrogation tactics -- that inflicting humiliation and pain on detainees was legal and effective, and helped protect the country. The 25-member panel, without one dissent among the 12 Republican members, declared the opposite to be true.

The administration's policies and the resulting controversies, the panel concluded, "damaged our ability to collect accurate intelligence that could save lives, strengthened the hand of our enemies, and compromised our moral authority."

(Emphasis mine)

Comments

[theblackshadow.livejournal.com]

Nice! I'm glad to see they're still working on this, despite the auto bill floppiing in the Senate. I know Alabama has been outspoken about this...it's on the local news every night while I'm visiting the folks. But it's the union thing 100% for people down here who complained about the auto bill. Every day I hear someone say something like, "Can you believe how much money the car guys in Detroit make?!" So we'll see what happens!

Ps this made me grin:
"By my count, this brings the total number of things he's done right in over eight years to... let's see... three."

Did you have two other things you liked over the years? I'm very curious as to what they are!

[pgwfolc.livejournal.com]

I had a feeling you'd be asking. *g*

The other two things are continuing our support for Israel and expanding our role in the global fight against AIDS. The Israel thing isn't surprising, but is still to his credit. The AIDS efforts come with social/moral/religious strings attached (in the form of a focus on abstinence education), but they've done a lot of good.

As for the unions... you hear a lot about them, yeah. And they did manage to get a lot of concessions back in the day, when business was booming. But they have actually agreed to cutbacks in recent years. It's not in their interests to see the company fold, and they know that. In fact, as mentioned in the first video (IIRC), their wages are on par with foreign-owned non-union plants (which happen to be located in the red states represented by the people who voted the bailout proposal down). Even a little lower than what one company (Toyota?) pays.

The unions play an important role in all this. They protect the workers from abuses, unsafe conditions, etc. They've done a remarkable job of that - dramatically improving safety records, getting fair pay, etc. They're not perfect, of course. They can be just as subject to greed and all as management. But there needs to be a balance of power.