Stunning case of judicial corruption

Two judges pleaded guilty to a kickback scheme that sent hundreds, maybe thousands of kids to privately run juvenile lockups for minor offenses.

Details here: http://www.thetimes-tribune.com/articles/2009/01/27/news/sc_times_trib.20090127.a.pg1.tt27judgesmain_s1.2261119_top2.txt

I'm very wary of "privatizing" core governmental functions, including incarceration. I don't think the state should delegate police, fire, prison or military functions to private entities. No one should be in a position to profit from exercising power over other people.

HUD Out

So Alphonso Jackson is out at HUD. Another clueless crony of Bush. It turns out that Jackson was a neighbor of Bush back in Dallas and that was apparently his main qualification for the job.
Has there been an administration so riddled with cronies and hacks since Grant?
Did/Does Bush have the slightest interest in actually governing? If he did, one would expect that he would have staffed his administration with more people who could run something.

Clinton missing the vote

Evidently Hillary is too busyt trying to save her campaign to bother voting on the FISA immunity bills today.
Obama is there, joining Dodd and most of the Democrats trying to stop this bad policy. Of course, 18 Democrats and all the Republicans continue to conspire in the emasculation of their "co-equal" branch of government by legalizing whatever illegal things the executive branch does.
Law and order only applies to the little people, don't you know?
So now the battle turns to the House.

Government favors the powerful over the ordinary citizen again

Interesting post from Housing Doom:
Every now and then, the "Internet Archive Way Back Machine" is a useful tool for seeing how a web page has been modified over time. I found it interesting that from around 2002 to the middle of 2006, the "About Fannie Mae" page stated the following about their mission:
At Fannie Mae, the home symbolizes who we are, too. Our public mission, and our defining goal, is to help more families achieve the American Dream of homeownership.
We do that by providing financial products and services that make it possible for low-, moderate-, and middle-income families to buy homes of their own.
After the middle of 2006 however, the same page states the following:
We exist to expand affordable housing and bring global capital to local communities in order to serve the U.S. housing market.
Fannie Mae has a federal charter and operates in America’s secondary mortgage market to ensure that mortgage bankers and other lenders have enough funds to lend to home buyers at low rates. Our job is to help those who house America.