Bushed: IEDs & corporate welfare

Here is another great version of Countdown's ongoing series, Bushed - this one hosted by Air America host Rachel Maddow. I love her show on Air America, and she has a great presence on television as well (are you listening, MSNBC execs?).

This edition is pretty damning, led off by some revelations about the IEDs that have been cutting out soldiers to pieces for five years now. Looks as if Our National Embarrassment's War on Terror isn't keeping us safer after all, despite what Dick Cheney and the rest of Bush's cronies would have you believe. As Maddow points out, over 600 IEDs have exploded in Iraq, but even more troubling - the number of IEDs detonated elsewhere around the world had increased for the third consecutive year, at over 300. It looks like the U.S. military's occupation presence in Iraq has tragically created the world's largest terrorism training school. I can almost hear the "school's" slogan now: iHate, iTrain, iBomb, iRaq.

The IED story is easily the most outrageous, but it should surprise no one that corporate America is making quite an outrageous money grab in the midst of the mortgage crisis. The Housing Bill being debated right now in the U.S. Senate is proposing $3.3 billion go to tax relief of homeowners, but about $12 billion is going to help out the companies involved. This should outrage every taxpayer in this country. Why in the world is the government bailing out companies who have made predatory loans in the first place. So let me get this straight - if homeowners make bad decisions by signing a high-risk mortgages because, heaven forbid, they want to achieve the American dream of buying a home, and they can't pay, they lose their money, and their homes. In other words, they pay for the mistake for a looong time in the form of destroyed credit, not to mention the loss of their homes.

If corporations and banks making these idiotic loans make bad decisions and have to foreclose on these homes, the government bails them out. I guess there really is no downside in the mortgage business. I really need to open my own bank. And we all need to contact our reps and senators in Congress to let them know how outraged we are. Click Here to find out who your reps and senators are, or you can call the Congressional Switchboard directly at (202) 225-3121 and an operator will connect you to your representative or senator(s).

Of course, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) had this to say about the bill:

"We helped Wall Street. We're all glad that Bear Stearns was taken care of," said Reid on Wednesday. "But now it's our opportunity to take care of people on Main Street."

No Senator, we are not all glad that Bear Sterns is raping the taxpayer. Maybe you are, but I know I'm not. Reid has been little short of a total disaster as Democratic Majority Leader in the Senate. If the Democrats retain control of the Senate, they had better consider another leader, because Reid is a joke.

The last piece is quite a story about Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC) being outraged that he couldn't use a gym for a workout while on a trip to Baghdad because he didn't have the proper credentials. McHenry called the guard a "two-bit security guard" in anger. Yet another elected politician who thinks he's God's gift, and who doesn't like being told the word "no." Maddow picks it up from here:

Just so you know, the gym McHenry wanted to use? It was in the Green Zone, in Baghdad. [Emphasis hers] The "two-bit security guard" McHenry derided was an American soldier in harm's way, protecting visiting Americans, like Congressman McHenry. And because this soldier followed proper procedure and refused special treatment to a big shot like Congressman McHenry, his reward? Did he get to go home, like McHenry did? No, this "two-bit security guard" stayed behind in Baghdad to fight McHenry's war for him. Congressman, you feel a little apology coming on?

Don't hold your breath, Rachel.

h/t Crooks & Liars for the links & video