US Senate

Five senators voted against the Credit Card Reform Act. Can you guess two of them?

As expected, the credit card reform bill passed the senate. In fact, the vote was 90-5.

Our senators showed us all who really owns them by voting ‘no’ on needed consumer protections, and in fovor of the credit card industry.  Johnson was the only democrat to vote against the bill, and Thune was one of four republicans – all from states that play a major part in the banking industry – to vote no.

The CC industry has now threatened that  consumers will have a harder time obtaining credit as a result of this bill:

The goal in the legislation should be to obtain the right balance: providing protections, while maintaining the important role of credit cards in providing loans to consumers and small businesses. Unfortunately, we believe the bill does not achieve that balance and will therefore cause an unnecessary decrease in credit availability.

But really, they have to be bluffing here. If you ran a business that had both customers who paid on time and customers who were total deadbeats, which group would you rather alienate; the ones who bring in steady revenue, or the ones who pay sporadically if at all?

If you are unable to responsibly use a credit card, having access to one will only make your financial problems worse. Maybe going back to the days when only responsible people had credit cards will be a good thing.

I have to roll my eyes at the local CC companies crapping their pants about jobs being effected. If you can’t find a way to turn a profit in the CC business without screwing your customers over, you shouldn’t be in business.

I would like to introduce Senator Drescher

Kennedy drops out of NY Senate race

Looks like Fran may have a chance. Kennedy says she is dropping out for personal reasons, some suspect Teddy’s brain cancer, but I have also heard she wasn’t going to be asked because Governor Patterson got annoyed by Kennedy’s lawyers (what did I say about giving seats to elitists? Huh? Huh?) Kinda hard to get rejected when you are not in the running anymore. Way to save face Caroline!

Obama retakes oath

Obama’s counsel advises him to retake oath to quell the media about Roberts fumble (mainly FUX News and Wallace). So he retook the oath last night. But only allowed print media, which of course pissed off the TV news, again, mainly FUX News and Wallace.

Obama expected to close Gitmo today

Or at least get the process started. Which has wingnuts up in arms. Who cares where the terrorist prison is, Hell put it in Pierre, South Dakota, there’s a lot of BACKROOMS we could hold them in the Capital and Governor’s office.

Governor (Dictator) Rounds decides it’s ok to give info to anon legislators

Well thank you Mikey! It only took you a few days to realize we live in a Democracy. Hunhoff’s comment is the best;

“It’s the right position and one that should have been in place for the last 100 years,” he said of the agreement. “But it could change the next time we have a new bureaucrat.”

The Washington Pavilion is getting in the Pre-School business

When I first read this story, I thought it was a joke. Nope. The Pavilion has decided that they aren’t wasting the public’s time and money fast enough.

“This isn’t going to be a money maker for us, but my requirement was that it at least be a cost-neutral program,” Wood said Wednesday.

Ah, Gary, since when was the Pavilion concerned about ‘making money’? Is this something new we should know about? Even though they claim to breakeven on the program, other people say it is expensive;

Charging “on the higher end” of area rates can be justified by the services and resources the Pavilion provides, said Lacie Petersen.

Well, I couldn’t agree more, but you also have to consider the Pavilion’s track record . . .