United Liberty

The journalist who threw a shoe at President Bush is being charged:

He was held Monday in Iraqi custody for investigation and could face charges of insulting a foreign leader and the Iraqi prime minister, who was standing next to Bush.

Conviction carries a sentence of up to two years in prison or a small fine — although it’s unlikely he would face the maximum penalty given his newfound cult status in the Arab world.

Assaulting a foreign leader I can understand being a crime, but “insulting a foreign leader?” That doesn’t sound like something people get charged with in court in a free society.

A recent LA Times/Bloomberg poll shows that 55 percent of the American people do not support a taxpayer bailout of the financial sector of the economy, while only 31 percent think it is the government’s responsibility to provide these funds to the struggling firms. The first plan presented, drawn up by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and the Bush administration, has drawn fire from many legislators and political action groups. The Paulson plan calls for $700 billion dollars to be spent to purchase the assets that the mortgage companies are unable to sell, a transfer of more authority over the markets to the Federal Reserve, and no oversight or judicial review. That would be a hard pill to swallow for any legislation, let alone a taxpayer bailout of financial corporations.

Did Bush make a good decision when he decided to attend the Beijing Olympics? That’s what Nick Gillespie argues over at Reason Magazine:

Speaking on condition of anonymity, officials have revealed that ongoing talks will hopefully lead to a withdrawal of US troops by October 2010.

The proposed agreement calls for Americans to hand over parts of Baghdad’s Green Zone — where the U.S. Embassy is located — to the Iraqis by the end of 2008.

U.S. acceptance — even tentatively — of a specific timeline would represent a dramatic reversal of American policy in place since the war began in March 2003.

Both Iraqi and American officials agreed that the deal is not final and that a major unresolved issue is the U.S. demand for immunity for U.S. soldiers from prosecution under Iraqi law.

Perhaps no issue places our economy in a pinch and our foreign standing in peril, more than issues concerning oil. The price of a barrel of oil fluctuates, but consistently climbs as the downward fluctuation is always higher than the last low price.

Granted, gas prices at the pump are not going to go down quickly, but we do need to consider how we have found ourselves at the place where we are, so that we might evaluate a sound approach to the issue. Consider the following issues:

1) Primarily due to lack of tax incentives and stringent environmental regulations, we have not seen a new refinery built in the US in the last ten years. At the same time, a new refinery is built every two years in the Middle East.

Senator McCain’s possible FEC violations were previously blogged about here- McCain snared in his own FEC trap?

The New York Times, reports that it appears President Bush may be attempting to come to McCain’s rescue by announcing three nominees for the FEC agency. If they are confirmed, this would give the commission the quorum they need to vote and decide whether McCain has been released from the matching funds program or not.

Senator McCain has expressed criticism of President Bush’s handling of the Katrina aftermath. He has promised that a McCain administration will handle such disasters differently, promising “Never again”, and explained how he would have responded had he been president.

“I’m just saying I would’ve landed my airplane at the nearest Air Force base and come over personally,” he said.

Wow.

I’m sure that would have made all the difference in the world.

McCain sharply critical of Bush response to Katrina