Cross-posted at my blog, Pol Culture.

After reading the Administration's bailout proposal for the financial-services industry, it's hard not to think it's some sort of joke. In essence, it would authorize a no-strings-attached transfer of $700 billion from the U.S. Treasury to Wall Street. They get to clear what Atrios so aptly referred to as the "Big Shitpile" of devalued securitized mortgages from their books, the U.S. taxpayers get to foot the bill, and Wall Street has no obligations in return for the money. Further, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has absolute authority over the disbursement of funds. There is to be no check on his actions beyond having to issue a report to congress after three months, and he or his successor having to make additional reports every six months after that. As the draft of the proposal states, ""Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency." They have got to be kidding, right?

Cross-posted at Alegre's Corner and my own blog, Pol Culture

Like many others, I was appalled by Obama's decision to conduct a support rally for himself in Berlin last week. The only U.S. political figure who has any business conducting political rallies on foreign soil is the President or a President-approved proxy, and even then only with the endorsement of that country's government. Obama is not the President, and Angela Merkel would have stopped this if she could have--the decision to allow this spectacle was made by the municipal government in Berlin. Foreign nationals should stay out of U.S. politics, whether it is Elton John at a Hillary Clinton fundraiser, or the German citizenry at the Obama rally Thursday.