Tonight's recommended reading

I came across a great post at DailyKos about body armor and armored Humvees. Also, it talks about bait and switch on salaries by KB&R (Halliburton.) Finally, it talks about how other coalition countries were able to uparmor their humvees more quickly by choosing other suppliers.

The Rude Pundit weighs in on Bush burning up his Political Capital as fast as Don Rumsfeld is churning through good karma. (Note to Rummy: Enjoy it while you can, 'cause you're coming back as a dung beetle.)

The Rude Pundit also blogs about the intentionally cruel provisions of the bankruptcy bill and its tendency to victimize the poorest Americans.

No, actually, this bill is so vicious in its specifics, it may as well say that goons from the Discover card can come into your home, beat your spouse to death with a lead pipe, cut off your cat's head and fuck its neckhole, and slice open your gut and fill your stomach with starving rats. All while your children are forced to watch.

Unfortunately, Grassley wrote those parts of the bill himself, which leaves me wondering could be worse than being a dung beetle. Look, it's really simple. Credit card companies play the averages, knowing that a certain percentage of customers are going to declare bankruptcy. That percentage is built into the loan-shark class of rates that these cards charge. The fact remains that a lot of creditors have given too much credit to the wrong people, and this represents the worst kind of patronage windfall for the credit card industry, all resting on the backs of the middle and lower class.

I was trying to figure out what to write about Joe Biden's support for this bill. While it's terrible for Republicans to back this bill, support from a Democrat is worse. As much as it pisses me off that Grassley can write such things into a bill, it is far worse for one of our own to show up and shoot the wounded.

So before I call it a night, here goes. I've put together a one paragraph open letter to Senator Biden on the extremely small chance that he or someone from his staff reads this in the next few days.

It is really likely that you, Joe Biden (D-MBNA), will be running for president in 2008. That dream is now over, Joe, if you don't back out of it, and I mean quickly. Kiss it goodbye. Support for this is unforgivable, and I'll be toasting your concession speech in Des Moines. Be sure to throw your support to someone who has a chance to win.

Goodnight, Moon.