Congressman DeFazio says NO BAILOUT

Friday's House vote in favor of the Paulson Bailout Bill was of course a huge disappointment. I predict that it won't be long before those who voted for this bill will go running for cover. Just like Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden have done with the Iraq War Declaration.

If you watched the VP debate then you got a refresher on what that defense strategy looks like. Palin accused Biden of hypocrisy on the Iraq War because he voted for it. Biden responds that he didn't vote for war but just for authorizing war as a last resort to give the President a bargaining tool. Or something like that. It's like when your kid gets caught with their hand in the cookie jar and says that he wasn't going to eat the cookie, he just wanted to feel the cookies and make sure one of their siblings hadn't eaten them.

Do you think Biden's argument would stand up in a court of law? How about a War Criminals Court? I can tell you that I'm not convinced by his arguments. Yet many Americans do seem to swallow these stories. They say that the Congress was misled by the President on the issue of WMDs. Again, I'm not buying it. This was just the politically easy thing to do because the Bush Administration and the MSM (Mainstream Media) were constantly beating the war drums, and the American Public was looking for blood.

I say the American Public instead of the American People purposefully in order to make a distinction. The American Public is the dumbed down version of the American People. They are the result of the constant stream of propaganda from the MSM. The American People on the other hand have a good heart, and believe in the American ideals of freedom and justice and democracy.

On Monday of last week we saw the power of the American People. They flooded their Representatives in Congress with calls and emails against the Wall St. Bailout. As a result the House voted by a narrow margin against the bailout. But by Friday the American Public had been swayed by the constant fear mongering from the media and had a slight change of heart. It was enough to allow passage of the bill, even though Friday's version of the bill was if anything worse since it was bloated with pork barrel amendments.

Helping to push the bill through Congress were Obama and McCain, or is it McBama and O'Cain. It's getting to the point where I can't tell the difference anymore. Both Presidential candidates strongly supported the bill. Obama was instrumental in swaying some members of the Congressional Black Caucus into changing their votes. This is not "change" and this is not the kind of leadership that America needs in the 21st Century. This is just more of the same.

There was some good news from last week's debacle. It wasn't just Dennis Kucinich and Ron Paul speaking out against this bill. Their voices were joined by many others. I want to highlight one of those who particularly impressed me during this legislative battle.

Representative Peter DeFazio (Democrat - Oregon)


Peter DeFazio is a Representative from Oregon. He proposed an alternative to the Paulson Bailout Bill called the No Bailouts Act. Here is DeFazio with Representative Marcy Kaptur from Ohio on Lou Dobbs describing the No Bailouts Act.



And here is Congressman DeFazio saying that the Paulson Bailout Bill is being justified by the threat of "Financial Weapons Of Mass Destruction". Sounds a lot like the Iraq War, doesn't it?



It's interesting that Peter has been in Congress since 1987 and is Oregon's most senior member in Congress, yet he is not the head of any Committee in Congress. Could it be that the Democratic Congressional leadership doesn't like the way that Peter plays ball?

In my article "10 signs that the End of Democracy is near", there is a video of DeFazio decrying the secrecy surrounding the Homeland Security Department's Continuity of Government (COG) plan. COG is essentially a codeword for Martial Law in the event of a national emergency. Like for instance a financial meltdown. Pete DeFazio has shown that he is no stranger to controversy in the past, and is not afraid to speak out for the American People. Here is the video again for easy reference.