The Nightowl Newswrap

Deregulation: 20 January 1981 - 16 September 2008 Deregulation died in a crash on Tuesday night. It was just shy of 28. At the same time the death was announced, it was noticed that the foxes who had been guarding the henhouse were gone, leaving a bloodbath in the barnyard. Suddenly, people who had spent their entire careers decrying the evils of regulation and extolling the virtues of unregulated free markets suddenly began trying to convince us that they had really been in favor of regulation all the time, and "what are you going to believe? What I am telling you now, or my actual record?" Yeah, I'm looking at John "Keating 5" McCain here. You want to get good and pissed off? Go read Ronald Reagan's first inaugural address. We were warned. But too many people were making too much imaginary money to give a fuck about the tab that was going to come due.

APA bans members from aiding in torture Members of the American Psychological Association are henceforth banned from participating in torture. Glad to see it, but pity it even had to be discussed, let alone written into the bylaws of the APA.

Bonnie Erbe brings Palin's rape kit policy into the mainstream Let's just say it's a good thing for Sarah that she isn't seeking Bonnie's good opinion, cuz she sure as hell doesn't have it.

Tent cities cropping up nation wide Just under 61% of state and local agencies that serve the homeless report homelessness is up dramatically since the foreclosure crisis got rolling last year. Anyone interested in our previous work on this subject can click here, here, or here.


You just can't make this stuff up George "Macaca" Allen will be a featured speaker at a "unity rally" of NoVA republicans who are trying to increase their appeal to the large ethnic populations in the area.

Unbelievable FEMA is no longer providing ice for storm victims, saying it is not the agencies responsibility to do so. It can - it isn't prohibited - but it isn't required so they won't. "It's frustrating that the government can deliver $85 billion to bail out AIG, and they can't deliver ice in Texas," said Ben Smilowitz, executive director of the Disaster Accountability Project (DAP), a nonpartisan organization that monitors the nation's disaster response system.

Feingold introduces legislation to ban signing statements "This bill represents an important step toward curbing secret law and restoring the balance of power between the White House and Congress,” said Feingold when he introduced the Office of Legal Counsel Reporting Act in the Senate. Rep. Brad Miller, Democrat of North Carolina, introduced the companion legislation in the house.

Bush shows Boehner and the house republicans the back of his hand 'Tis a pity, too, for Johnny Teardrops was really in a mood to do something that would make him and his republicans look busy and hard at work, like they are doing something about the economic meltdown. But the White House isn't interested in those congressional losers and didn't even bother to send a representative over to brief the House republicans caucus on the federal government's response to the economic meltdown. "I and all of my colleagues are concerned about the lack of information and the lack of consultation that has occurred," Boehner said of the admnistration's recent habit of bailing and leaving the republicans looking ridiculous.

Foley gets away with it Disgraced former republican congressman Mark Foley won't face charges. The news comes after a two-year investigation into his lurid, homoerotic messages to underage male congressional pages.

Petty...vindictive...destructive...gotta be a republican After Rep. Henry Brown set a fire on his land that got out of control and spread to the adjoining Francis Marion National Forest, he spent four years fighting the $5773 fine. "Congressman Brown didn't intend to burn National Forest land, but he was careless and lazy that day," said a National Forest Service spokesperson. After Brown was cited for negligence in a federal misdemeanor charge, he hired a lawyer and billed the federal government $9,040 for alleged damage to his land from a controlled burn he said Forest Service rangers set in 1989. That claim was laughed out of court because the federal statute of limitations had run out. Brown then commenced to whining about his penalty in an avalanche of e-mail, letter and phone exchanges with Forest Service employees in Washington, South Carolina, New Mexico and elsewhere. By the time it was all said and done, the ability of the forest service to levy fines in cases of negligence that lead to forest fires has been weakened dramatically. The lazy-dumbass-who-says-he-didn't-mean-it defense is now, apparently, good enough to get a lazy dumbass of the hook for setting fires that damage public land.

Todd Palin refuses to testify in "Troopergate" hearings in spite of the fact he has been subpoenaed to do so in the investigation by the state legislature into his wifes abuse of power and the wrongful termination of the states top public safety officer after he refused to fire Scary Sarah's ex-brother in law. Before she was McCain's running mate, Palin was "eager to clear her name" - now she is eager to stall until after election day.

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