The Impeachment Hearing Room

Who's to blame for the biggest financial catastrophe of our time? There are plenty of culprits, but one candidate for lead perp is former Sen. Phil Gramm. Eight years ago, as part of a decades-long anti-regulatory crusade, Gramm pulled a sly legislative maneuver that greased the way to the multibillion-dollar subprime meltdown.

Yet has Gramm been banished from the corridors of power? Reviled as the villain who bankrupted Middle America? Hardly. Now a well-paid executive at a Swiss bank, Gramm cochairs Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign and advises the Republican candidate on economic matters. He's been mentioned as a possible Treasury secretary should McCain win. That's right: A guy who helped screw up the global financial system could end up in charge of US economic policy. Talk about a market failure.

Gramm's long been a handmaiden to Big Finance. In the 1990s, as chairman of the Senate banking committee, he routinely turned down Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Arthur Levitt's requests for more money to police Wall Street; during this period, the sec's workload shot up 80 percent, but its staff grew only 20 percent. Gramm also opposed an sec rule that would have prohibited accounting firms from getting too close to the companies they audited—at one point, according to Levitt's memoir, he warned the sec chairman that if the commission adopted the rule, its funding would be cut.

And in 1999, Gramm pushed through a historic banking deregulation bill that decimated Depression-era firewalls between commercial banks, investment banks, insurance companies, and securities firms—setting off a wave of merger mania.

But Gramm's most cunning coup on behalf of his friends in the financial services industry—friends who gave him millions over his 24-year congressional career—came on December 15, 2000. It was an especially tense time in Washington. Only two days earlier, the Supreme Court had issued its decision on Bush v. Gore.

President Bill Clinton and the Republican-controlled Congress were locked in a budget showdown. It was the perfect moment for a wily senator to game the system. As Congress and the White House were hurriedly hammering out a $384-billion omnibus spending bill, Gramm slipped in a 262-page measure called the Commodity Futures Modernization Act. Written with the help of financial industry lobbyists and cosponsored by Senator Richard Lugar (R-Ind.), the chairman of the agriculture committee, the measure had been considered dead—even by Gramm.

Few lawmakers had either the opportunity or inclination to read the version of the bill Gramm inserted. "Nobody in either chamber had any knowledge of what was going on or what was in it," says a congressional aide familiar with the bill's history.

It's not exactly like Gramm hid his handiwork—far from it. The balding and bespectacled Texan strode onto the Senate floor to hail the act's inclusion into the must-pass budget package. But only an expert, or a lobbyist, could have followed what Gramm was saying. The act, he declared, would ensure that neither the sec nor the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (cftc) got into the business of regulating newfangled financial products called swaps—and would thus "protect financial institutions from overregulation" and "position our financial services industries to be world leaders into the new century."

It didn't quite work out that way. For starters, the legislation contained a provision—lobbied for by Enron, a generous contributor to Gramm—that exempted energy trading from regulatory oversight, allowing Enron to run rampant, wreck the California electricity market, and cost consumers billions before it collapsed. (For Gramm, Enron was a family affair. Eight years earlier, his wife, Wendy Gramm, as cftc chairwoman, had pushed through a rule excluding Enron's energy futures contracts from government oversight.

Wendy later joined the Houston-based company's board, and in the following years her Enron salary and stock income brought between $915,000 and $1.8 million into the Gramm household.)

But the Enron loophole was small potatoes compared to the devastation that unregulated swaps would unleash. Credit default swaps are essentially insurance policies covering the losses on securities in the event of a default. Financial institutions buy them to protect themselves if an investment they hold goes south. It's like bookies trading bets, with banks and hedge funds gambling on whether an investment (say, a pile of subprime mortgages bundled into a security) will succeed or fail.

Because of the swap-related provisions of Gramm's bill—which were supported by Fed chairman Alan Greenspan and Treasury secretary Larry Summers—a $62 trillion market (nearly four times the size of the entire US stock market) remained utterly unregulated, meaning no one made sure the banks and hedge funds had the assets to cover the losses they guaranteed.

In essence, Wall Street's biggest players (which, thanks to Gramm's earlier banking deregulation efforts, now incorporated everything from your checking account to your pension fund) ran a secret casino. "Tens of trillions of dollars of transactions were done in the dark," says University of San Diego law professor Frank Partnoy, an expert on financial markets and derivatives. "No one had a picture of where the risks were flowing."

Betting on the risk of any given transaction became more important—and more lucrative—than the transactions themselves, Partnoy notes: "So there was more betting on the riskiest subprime mortgages than there were actual mortgages." Banks and hedge funds, notes Michael Greenberger, who directed the cftc's division of trading and markets in the late 1990s, "were betting the subprimes would pay off and they would not need the capital to support their bets."

These unregulated swaps have been at "the heart of the subprime meltdown," says Greenberger. "I happen to think Gramm did not know what he was doing. I don't think a member in Congress had read the 262-page bill or had thought of the cataclysm it would cause." In 1998, Greenberger's division at the cftc proposed applying regulations to the burgeoning derivatives market. But, he says, "all hell broke loose. The lobbyists for major commercial banks and investment banks and hedge funds went wild. They all wanted to be trading without the government looking over their shoulder."

Now, belatedly, the feds are swooping in—but not to regulate the industry, only to bail it out, as they did in engineering the March takeover of investment banking giant Bear Stearns by JPMorgan Chase, fearing the firm's collapse could trigger a dominoes-like crash of the entire credit derivatives market.

No one in Washington apologizes for anything, so it's no surprise that Gramm has failed to issue any mea culpa. Post-Enron, says Greenberger, the senator even called him to say, "You're going around saying this was my fault—and it's not my fault. I didn't intend this."

Whether or not Gramm had bothered to ponder the potential downsides of his commodities legislation, having helped set off an industry free-for-all, he reaped the rewards. In 2003, he left the Senate to take a highly lucrative job at ubs, Switzerland's largest bank, which had been able to acquire investment house PaineWebber due to his banking deregulation bill. He would soon be lobbying Congress, the Fed, and the Treasury Department for ubs on banking and mortgage matters.

There was a moment of poetic justice when ubs became one of the subprime crisis' top losers, writing down $37 billion as of this spring—an amount equal to its previous four years of profits combined. In a report explaining how it had managed to mess up so grandly, ubs noted that two-thirds of its losses were the fault of collateralized debt obligations—securities backed largely by subprime instruments—and that credit default swaps had been "key to the growth" of its out-of-control cdo business. (Gramm declined to comment for this article.)

Gramm's record as a reckless deregulator has not affected his rating as a Republican economic expert. Sen. John McCain has relied on him for policy advice, especially, according to the campaign, on housing matters. The two have been buddies ever since they served together in the House in the 1980s; in 1996, McCain chaired Gramm's flop of a presidential campaign. (Gramm spent $21 million and earned only 10 delegates during the gop primaries.)

In 2005, McCain told a Wall Street Journal columnist that Gramm was his economic guru. Two years later, Gramm wrote a piece for the Journal extolling McCain as a modern-day Abraham Lincoln, and he's hailed McCain's love of tax cuts and free trade.

Media accounts have identified Gramm as a contender for the top slot at the Treasury Department if McCain reaches the White House. "If McCain gets in," frets Lynn Turner, a former chief sec accountant, "we'll have more of the same deregulatory mess. I like John McCain, but given what I know about Phil Gramm, I wouldn't vote for McCain."

As a thriving bank exec and presidential adviser, Gramm has defied a prime economic principle: Bad products are driven out of the market. In John McCain, he has gained an important customer, so his stock has gone up in value. And there's no telling when the Gramm bubble will burst.

David Corn is Mother Jones' Washington, D.C. bureau chief

The Subprime Mess and Phil Gramm: An Experiment in Deregulation ...
Jun 24, 2008 ... The essence of the act was the deregulation of derivatives trading ... Former Texas senator Phil Graham was one of the worst chippers, ...losangeles.injuryboard.com/miscellaneous/the-subprime-mess-and-phil-gramm-an-experiment-in-deregulation.aspx?googleid=242468

Windy City Guide: John McCain advisor Phil Graham still lobbying ...
May 28, 2008 ... MSNBC's Keith Olbermann reported on Tuesday on former Senator Phil Graham's role in the deregulation of commercial banking which had been ...windycityguide.blogspot.com/2008/05/john-mccain-advisor-phil-graham-still.html

Seattle Post-Intelligencer: David Horsey
I am so relieved that Graham's role in McCain's economic policy is coming out, .... McCain's friend, Phil Gramm, was the architect for deregulation. ...seattlepi.nwsource.com/horsey/viewbydate.asp?ID=1825

a vote for McSame is a vote for Phil Graham as fed chief
a vote for McSame is a vote for Phil Graham as fed chief ("Enron Loophole"Phil. ... And in 1999, Gramm pushed through a historic banking deregulation bill ...losangeles.craigslist.org/lac/pol/833435659.html

SEC Chairman Christopher Cox Strikes Back At McCain
McCain explain your helping Senator Phil Graham hide the Banking Deregulation Bill in the Approations Bill and sneaking it past the Senate who had voted it down 3 time when it stood alone. Even Republicans voted against it 3 time when it was presented as a stand a lone bill!!!!!!!!!!!

A More Generous Interpretation of the McCain-Spain Gaffe
If you haven't heard about the McCain-Spain snafu, highlighted by Talking Points Memo overnight, here's a quick rundown. My take on the whole thing follows.

McCain did an interview with a Spanish-language radio station. He was asked about a series of Latin American troublemakers, in response to which McCain gave the standard conservative boilerplate about standing up to those that oppose liberty, freedom, etc. The interviewer then asks about Spain and President/Prime Minister Zapatero. McCain appears confused by the question or unclear on who Zapatero is and covers by providing more boilerplate about Latin America. He never embraces Spain as an ally, possibly because he doesn't know the questions are about Spain.

At this TPM post, you can hear the interview in English and evaluate for yourself.

Sarah Palin's Secret Emails
The Palin office won't release hundreds of emails, claiming they cover confidential policy matters. Then why do the subject lines refer to a political foe and a journalist? —By David Corn

Sarah Palin's Wasilla Emails
Did Palin violate the law by using official resources for partisan activity? —By David Corn

Palin's Email Account Hacked (PHOTOS)
UPDATE: The AP has more details on how the hacker got into Sarah Palin's account: The hacker guessed...

Palin Contradicts Palin on Troopergate Explanation
Palin's attorney filed papers on Monday claiming that Palin fired Alaska's public safety director Walt Monegan because of his "outright insubordination" regarding policy and budgetary matters. The problem with this explanation: It directly contradicts Palin's own story. —By David Corn

The Luxury of True Reproductive Choice
If John McCain wins the election, Sarah Palin will no doubt do what she can to overturn Roe v. Wade. Will she also support subsidized childcare and higher ed for teen moms poorer than Bristol? —By Judith Lewis


Can the FDIC Weather the Financial Storm?
If Washington Mutual falls, all it could take is a few more bank collapses to wipe out the FDIC's reserves. —By James Ridgeway

John Cusack The Final Distraction: McCain/Palin Worse Than Bush
We all know McCain has sold his soul to win. Big mistake:...

AP Refuses To Comply With Secret Service Request On Sarah Palin's Hacked E-Mails
WASHINGTON -- Hackers broke into the Yahoo! e-mail account...

Conservatives Turn On McCain-Palin
David Brooks writes in the New York Times that Sarah Palin is unqualified: In the current...

A Crash Course in Economic CrashesBy Larry Beinhart, AlterNetEach week, sometimes daily now, we slide by a new economic warning sign, by another wreck that's already off the road. Read more

Only a Roosevelt-Scale Counterrevolution Can Prevent Great Depression IIBy Robert Kuttner, The American ProspectFree-market extremists brought us this needless economic collapse. Here's a rundown of the mistakes we've made and the reforms we need now. Read more

McCain Enabled Our Economic MeltdownBy Robert Scheer, TruthdigMcCain voted for abolishing all of the significant rules put in place at the time of the Great Depression designed to prevent a repeat. Read more

The End of McCain's Media Honeymoon
Early this summer, the Arizona senator was caught off-guard by an awkward question about Viagra. Did he think it was right that many health insurance policies cover erectile dysfunction medication but not birth control? McCain squirmed in his seat for what seemed like an eternity before blurting that it was “not something I have thought much about”.

Video of the embarrassing moment was playing on YouTube within hours, re­inforcing the early summer narrative of an ageing and out-of-touch candidate. Since that day, McCain has held only a handful of formal press conferences and abandoned altogether the free-flowing question and answer sessions with reporters that were once his trademark.» read the article

McCain Blasts Wall Street Failure, Neglects To Mention His Adviser Helped Cause It
As the news broke of the Lehman Brothers meltdown and the rest of the latest financial crisis, John McCain, speaking at a campaign rally in Florida on Monday, angrily declared,

We will never put America in this position again. We will clean up Wall Street. This is a failure.

And in a statement released by his campaign, McCain called for greater "transparency and accountability" on Wall Street.

If McCain wants to hold someone accountable for the failure in transparency and accountability that led to the current calamity, he should turn to his good friend and adviser, Phil Gramm.

As Mother Jones reported in June, eight years ago, Gramm, then a Republican senator chairing the Senate banking committee, slipped a 262-page bill into a gargantuan, must-pass spending measure. Gramm's legislation, written with the help of financial industry lobbyists, essentially removed newfangled financial products called swaps from any regulation.


Credit default swaps are basically insurance policies that cover the losses on investments, and they have been at the heart of the subprime meltdown because they have enabled large financial institutions to turn risky loans into risky securities that could be packaged and sold to other institutions.

Lehman's collapse threatens the financial markets because of swaps. From Bloomberg:

McCain's good buddy Gramm, the Architect for deregulation on Wall ...
Sep 16, 2008 ... Banking Deregulation and the 2008 Mortgage Crisis. Later in his Senate career, ... And another famous quote of Phil Graham: ...www.nowpublic.com/world/mccains-good-buddy-gramm-architect-deregulation-wall-street-0 -

Bailouts Exceed $600 Billion businessweek.com —
The U.S. government has made several high-stakes attempts to stabilize a financial system struggling through the worst housing slump in decades and a related credit crisis. Here's a look at four actions that required more than $600 billion of taxpayers' money.

New Roles Stretch Fed to Its Limits nytimes.com —
The mighty Federal Reserve is being stretched to its limits, both in the range of problems it is being asked to fix and in its financial firepower. The central bank has also transformed itself almost overnight into the Fed Inc. by essentially taking over American International Group after already taking on hundreds of billions of dollars in mortgage securities to help ailing financial institutions. Instead of just setting monetary policy in its Ivory Tower-like setting, the Fed now must wear several hats — that of insurance conglomerate, investment banker and even hedge fund manager.

Big Three Ask for Billions thehill.com —
The Chief executive officers of Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler held a rare Capitol Hill meeting with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and other Democratic leaders to ask for $25 billion in government loans for the auto industry. Detroit wants the loans, authorized by Congress in last year's energy bill but not yet appropriated, to revamp plants in Michigan and other states so that they can produce more hybrid cars and other fuel-efficient vehicles. The Big Three need to start selling more hybrids, not only to compete with foreign competitors, but to meet tougher fuel-efficiency standards included in the 2007 energy bill.

Jobless Claims Up 10,000 marketwatch.com — Initial claims for state jobless benefits rose by 10,000 in the latest week, reflecting claims filed by residents of Louisiana hit by Hurricane Gustav, the Labor Department said. Claims for the week ending Sept. 13 rose to 455,000, the highest since Aug. 2. Amid one of the worst financial crises in U.S. history, the number of continuing claims fell to 3.47 million, a drop of 55,000, for the week ending Sept. 6. But continuing claims remain relatively high: They have been above 3 million since mid-April. The four-week average of those claims stayed at close to a five-year high. In the latest week, the average rose by 29,750 to 3.46 million. The level of continuing claims indicates how difficult or easy it is to find a job.

The organizers of an anti-Iran rally Monday rescinded their invitation to Alaska Governor Sarah Palin after Democrats protested that her presence would turn the event into a political rally, McCain campaign and Jewish community sources said.

The Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations created a political tempest by inviting Palin to speak without clearing her invitation with another speaker, Senator Hillary Clinton. Clinton promptly dropped out of the event, saying it would be seen as unduly political. The McCain campaign then pressed Senator Barack Obama to join Palin on the stage in a show of unity against Iran.

The Obama campaign in turn offered to send Congressman Robert Wexler of Florida -- who had harshly attacked Palin for slender ties to Pat Buchanan-- to the event.

But the appearance that the non-partisan group was aligning with the Republican ticket put the group and its president, Malcolm Hoenlein, under heavy pressure from Jewish Democrats, including members of the conference, members of Congress, and the liberal group J Street, not to give Palin a platform, sources said. Hoenlein told the McCain campaign that he would have to rescind Palin's invitation or cancel the rally.

The organizers, I'm told, have formally disinvited all elected and political officials, but the move was about Palin.

"In order to keep the focus on Iranian threats and to ensure that this critical message not be obscured, the organizers of the rally have decided not to have any American political personalities appear," the Stop Iran Now coalition said in a statement. "This issue, opposition to a nuclear-armed Iran, is one which enjoys bipartisan support and the backing of the American people across the political spectrum. On this, all Americans stand together. We acknowledge and deeply appreciate those American political leaders who have been and remain prepared to stand with us as we collectively address the dangers of Iran's nuclear program and its support for terrorism globally."

Statement From The Organizers Of The Rally To Stop Iran Now

From The National Coalition to Stop Iran Now (New York, Sept. 18, 2008) --- The purpose of “THE RALLY TO STOP IRAN NOW” on Monday, Sept. 22, 2008, is to protest the presence of Iran’s President Ahmadinejad at the United Nations, and to oppose his nuclear weapons program.

We take most seriously his threat to wipe the United States and Israel “off the map” and believe the world leaders gathered at the United Nations must act with resolve to prevent a nuclear armed Iran that would be a threat to this country, Israel and the world.

For this reason, tens of thousands of people of every faith and ethnicity are expected to hear messages from prominent religious and civic leaders, including Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel and Israeli Knesset Speaker Dalia Itzik. In order to keep the focus on Iranian threats and to ensure that this critical message not be obscured, the organizers of the rally have decided not to have any American political personalities appear.

This issue, opposition to a nuclear-armed Iran, is one which enjoys bipartisan support and the backing of the American people across the political spectrum. On this, all Americans stand together. We acknowledge and deeply appreciate those American political leaders who have been and remain prepared to stand with us as we collectively address the dangers of Iran's nuclear program and its support for terrorism globally.

We hope that the world leaders gathered at the UN will hear this message and resolve to act decisively against the Iranian nuclear program by implementing UN and Security Council resolutions and sanctions.

We again call on all concerned Americans of every background to join us at the "RALLY TO STOP IRAN NOW" on Monday, Sept. 22, at 11:45 A.M.

Signed:The National Coalition to Stop Iran NowThe Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations United Jewish CommunitiesUJA-Federation of New YorkThe Jewish Council for Public Affairs The Jewish Community Relations Council of New York

By Ben Smith 04:04 PM

The Big Whisper: What's Up With John McCain?
John McCain has been all over the map recently, especially when it comes to the economic crisis that's been hammering Wall Street. He also managed to make some interesting - or rather, bizarre - remarks about Spain on Wednesday. See more articles below on McCain's actions over the last few weeks.

Late Wednesday night, news made its way from the other side of the Atlantic that John McCain, in an interview with a Spanish outlet, had made a series of bizarre responses to a question regarding that country's prime minister.

"Would you be willing to meet with the head of our government, Mr. Zapatero?" the questioner asked, in an exchange now being reported by several Spanish outlets.

McCain proceeded to launch into what appeared to be a boilerplate declaration about Mexico and Latin America -- but not Spain -- pressing the need to stand up to world leaders who want to harm America.

Politics has always been lousy with blather and chicanery. But there are rules and traditions too. In the early weeks of the general-election campaign, a consensus has grown in the political community -- a consensus that ranges from practitioners like Karl Rove to commentators like, well, me -- that John McCain has allowed his campaign to slip the normal bounds of political propriety. The situation has gotten so intense that we in the media have slipped our normal rules as well.

Usually when a candidate tells something less than the truth, we mince words.

We use euphemisms like mendacity and inaccuracy ... or, as the Associated Press put it, "McCain's claims skirt facts." But increasing numbers of otherwise sober observers, even such august institutions as the New York Times editorial board, are calling John McCain a liar. You might well ask, What has McCain done to deserve this? What unwritten rules did he break? Are his transgressions of degree or of kind?

he Federal Reserve's lightning rescue of AIG has the smell of systemic fear, writes Nation national affairs correspondent William Greider. The house of global finance is on fire and everyone is running for the exits, no sure way to turn them around. What's next? The question itself is ominous, because there are no good answers.

Moreover, as Nicholas von Hoffman reports, fifty-seven million American families, who planned for their future by investing in mutual funds and rock-solid investments like AIG, now find themselves staring into the abyss.

Check out other new Nation articles, essays, reports and posts at The Nation.com.

Election 08

What's McCain Got Against Spain?
Ari Berman Does John McCain think Spain is a country in Latin America? The latest embarrassing McCain gaffe.

BlackBerry BuffoonAri Melber As the markets crash and the bail-outs pile up, John McCain's BlackBerry gaffe continues to pick up steam.

Sarah's Way -- of the Highway
Barbara Koeppel The idea that Sarah Palin is experienced, ethical and wise would be laughable, if it weren't so alarming.

McCain's Fannie and Freddie Connections
John McCain says lobbying by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac "was one of the primary contributors to this great debacle." If that's the case, McCain should look first to his campaign staffers as the cause of that "debacle." —By Jonathan Stein

The End of a Gilded Age
The relationship between Washington and Wall Street has changed fundamentally. As a result, the road ahead is dark and unknown. —By Steve Fraser

"Plunder: Investigating Our Economic Calamity and the Subprime ...
Center for Research on Globalization - Montreal,Quebec,CanadaWhat Senator Chris Dodd calls "a 50-state Katrina," but these waters are rising and uncertainty remains on whether something far more calamitous is coming. ...See all stories on this topic

McCain-Palin: “Bridge to Hell”
By burningbabylon Everything important about McCain and Palin are off the table, just as the impeachment of Bush-Cheney has been kept off the table by the spineless Dem leadership of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senator Harry Reid. ...Burning Babylon - http://burningbabylon.wordpress.com

Andrew Greeley: Evangelical Mobs to Burn Books if McCain Wins
Get the scene. The McCain/Palin ticket wins in November and soon afterwards mobs of wild eyed bible-toting evangelicals will burn stacks of books in giant bonfires. Sound ridiculous? Well, that is exactly what Andrew Greeley is laughably claiming in his latest Chicago Sun-Times column ominously titled, "Next Chapter for radical right: Burn books." Years ago, Greeley sounded somewhat sane but lately he has gone off the deep end such as his claim in June that it is racist not to vote for Obama. Greeley's latest sanity-challenged screed presents a bleak future of crazed book-burning evangelicals taking over the country. Try not to laugh too hard as you read Greeley's rantings (emphasis mine):

Let's fill some trucks with books, drive them downtown and burn them in front of the Chicago Public Library. Let's drive other trucks to the regional libraries and burn them, too . . . I mean the books, not the libraries, though libraries are the source of the problem. If it weren't for the libraries, it would be hard for innocent young people to be corrupted by the filth pouring out of the country's printers.

Instead of burning books or libraries, perhaps we ought to start smashing printing presses. They have served as tools of sin and the devil since Herr Gutenberg invented them.

When the radical evangelicals take over the White House, lists of books that one shouldn't read or in fact are forbidden to read will spread around the country like wildfire, you should excuse the expression. Unless a much tighter control is imposed on distribution of books, the morals of the country will continue to deteriorate, which will in turn weaken us in the long war on terror.

One almost pictures John Connor somewhere in this bleak evangelical future of Greeley's fantasy sending a terminator back to our time to keep evangelicals from taking over Skynet and nuking all books on the planet. Father Greeley then invokes some biblical sounding language to attempt to make his silly case:

Oh ye of little faith! Why must ye think that the power of the biblical stories depends on their literal, word-for-word inerrancy?

Why can't you see that those men and women who study it so closely actually enhance its wonder?

Why instead must ye wander through the desert searching for the pillar of salt that was Lot's wife?

Why can't ye understand that ye continue the battle between science and religion with thy concern about routing evolution from the classrooms?

Don't ye realize that ye reinforce the paradigm, so loved by thy friends in the national media, of the battle between science and religion?

When the results finally leak out about the European Organization for Nuclear Research experiments in Switzerland, just watch the stories confronting religious ideas about creation with "scientific" knowledge.

Yes, Greeley works himself into a lather over his highly fictional evangelical book burning future but he conveniently overlooks a very real case of censorship in his own Chicago, namely the attempts by the Barack Obama campaign to suppress books critical of him. One of the many comments following Greeley's bizarre column is an on the mark comment calling him on his hypocrisy from someone called ajea:

The most recent public outcries for censorship were from the Obama contingent over guests David Freddoso, author of The Case Against Barack Obama: The Unlikely Rise and Unexamined Agenda of the Media’s Favorite Candidate, on September 15th and Stanley Kurtz on 8/27 who Milt Rosenberg from WGN radio had on his show in an attempt to bring some balance to the MSM's blind worship of Obama. There is a link to his interview with Stanley Kurtz on Milt's file wgnradio.com.

As far as Rev Greeley goes, he is just a regular reminder that wearing a collar does not automatically confer wisdom.

ImpeachmentWatch Day 100 (2008-09-17)
By impeachmentwatch The RULE OF LAW demands that we Impeach President Bush and Vice President Cheney for the high crimes and misdemeanors they have committed against the people of this country and the world. We are the media now. Stand up and help Rep. ...Impeachmentwatch - http://impeachmentwatch.wordpress.com

The Cheney Presidency within Bush’s
By admin Wow. After reading the two-part excerpt of a new book that revealed the insidious side of the vice-president team previously untold details, I have revised my policy toward the W. Bush legacy. One, the Bush presidency had been hijacked ...Vox Populi - http://vox.96mm.com/

For prosecution of Bush war crimes, planning begins
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IMPEACH Pelosi
By FJ(FJ) She's criminally OUT of TOUCH! House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, when asked Tuesday whether Democrats bear some of the responsibility regarding the current crisis on Wall Street, had a one-word answer: “No.” Pelosi (D-Calif. ...FJ's Blog - http://farmersletters.blogspot.com/

Impeach Cheney
By Reggie(Reggie) Impeach Cheney, and expose the misdeeds of his loser wife; couple of real pieces of work. Bush and Cheney can barely stand each other at this point (ever since Bush fired Rumsfeld at Laura's request), yet the Cheneys still hold the ...<<<>

Has the U.S. Invasion of Pakistan Begun?
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How to Stay in Iraq for 1,000 Years
Is there a way for U.S. negotiators to finagle permanent bases without permission from Congress? Yep. It's called a SOFA. —By Frida Berrigan

Worshiping the Indispensable NationThe Bush/neocon attempt to transform the Middle East has failed. We need to face that before we can repair the damage. —By Andrew Bacevich

Big Three execs to meet with Pelosi
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Nancy Pelosi is a train wreck…
By Mike Sylvester When interviewed today Nancy Pelosi actually said the following when asked Tuesday whether Democrats bear some of the responsibility regarding the current crisis on Wall Street, had a one-word answer: “No.” ...Fort Wayne Politics - http://fortwaynepolitics.com

Moron of the Day: Nancy Pelosi
By Lee Hernly House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, when asked Tuesday whether Democrats bear some of the responsibility regarding the current crisis on Wall Street, had a one-word answer: “No.” Pelosi (D-Calif.) ripped President Bush’s “mismanagement” of the ...Lee's Take - http://www.leehernly.com/blog

Romanticpoet's Weblog - http://romanticpoet.wordpress.com How long does Nancy Pelosi have to be speaker before she takes ...By Darke Blog(Jason Aslinger)

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, when asked Tuesday whether Democrats bear some of the responsibility regarding the current crisis on Wall Street, had a one-word answer: “No.” Pelosi (D-Calif.) ripped President Bush’s “mismanagement” of the ...
Darke Blog - http://darkegop.blogspot.com/

The De-Elitification of the USA
"Regular Guy" Lardbottom is here to out elite politicians on the left and on the right. A political cartoon. —By Mark Fiore

McCain vs. The Economy
McCain: "I think, still, the fundamentals of our economy are strong." Palin: "I'm just your average hockey mom." —By Mark Fiore