I have been a keen observer of this administration as it has careened from disaster to disaster. In each instance it has taken the train off the rails and then presented Congress with an emergency package to rescue the country. Each time Bush has asked for something, the White House stategy is to say that absolute catastrophy will ensure if Congress doesn't take quick action, essentially, it is blackmail. The same held true when Hank Paulson and Ben Bernanke testified before the Senate Banking Committee yesterday. What they gave the senators was a three-page document that was their "plan" to rescue the financial industry and, apprently, the economy. What a joke. The White House, of course, said that swift passenge was essential to avert a disaster, and the "plan" would give the Treasury unprecedented and unreviewable powers. This waste of an administration has been given enough blank checks by Congress. The biggest of all (thus far) was Iraq--and over 4,000 lives and $1 trillon dollars later and we still have nothing--nothing--to show for it. The whole thing makes me sick. And the fact that so many are still willing to back the same fools that got us into this mess just makes me sicker.