FIRE sale

courtesy Avedon Carol, there's this simple slide show with stick figures(see controls on the lower left corner) explaining recent events. :^)

Although Avedon recognizes the bill that didn't pass on Monday was a bad one, she nevertheless buys into the notion that

"the Republicans tripped over their own fake-out this time by trying to simultaneously support and condemn the bailout bill. Weird."[one]

Sorry, I don't buy that it was just a "fake-out"; why shouldn't the GOP rank-and-file rebel when their hidebound leadership instruct them to cut their own throats?

"...apparently the vote on the deal failed, according to Atrios, because the crybabies are back - that is, the Republicans were miffed because Pelosi hurt their feelings, and therefore they decided not to bother to "help" the country during this totally-urgent-we're-all-gonna-die emergency."[two]

Barney Frank has been trying to sell this line since Monday afternoon, which (should be) just as transparent as the GOP leadership blaming the GOP defections from the bill on Pelosi's speech beforehand. The party leadership on both sides are probably relieved that no bill passed, insofar as whatever they mean to eventually foist on us will undoubtedly be pretty noxious and they're lining up their stories so they can blame the other side for the less salutary aspects-- which I'm guessing will be pretty much every aspect of the bill that finally passes, if one passes before the election.

That doesn't change the fact that the reason Barney Frank and Atrios and others are labeling this as a "hissy fit" is to prevent people from looking more closely at the collusion of the democrats in helping to bring us to the present state of affairs, or even looking at specific reasons that the opposition may have for opposing the present bill. Whether or not a better bill actually emerges is another matter, and I'll admit I suspect it's unlikely. Nevertheless, in the short term, putting the brakes on Monday afternoon was the best result possible.

Large numbers of people freaked out when the Dow lost 778 points on Monday, partly because the people on TV told them to fear the reaper if a deal didn't get done. OK, so it didn't. But the pesky dow gained back 485 points the next day, without a bill having been passed, and some people even reported seeing the sun shine.

Even if it proves to be transitory, reality intruded, casting in sharp relief the lies of all the sumbitches who want you to suspend your skepticism, and fear what you are told to fear when they want to ram through a poison-soaked piece of legislation to "help" you. I'm reminded of

this video.

Finally, here's a guy who thinks no deal is better than anything Washington is likely to concoct: