If we have learned one thing over the past seven years, it is this:  Do not EVER trust the Bush administration when the question of executive power is at issue! From the Patriot Act to the authority to use force in Iraq to the need to pass a new FISA law, the Bush administration is always saying some kind of crisis necessitates urgent action, which inevitably leads to the administration being given -- and abusing -- unprecedented power.

This week, the Bush administration is at it again.  With the specter of a complete Wall Street collapse hanging over our heads, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is seeking 700 billion taxpayer dollars to bail out the financial industry.  While the American Freedom Campaign is not taking a position on the financial details contained in the Bush administration legislative proposal, we are outraged by one specific section related to executive branch accountability.

Section 8 of the legislation provides, "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."

Yes, the Bush administration is asking Congress to give the Secretary of the Treasury the authority to spend $700 billion as he wishes, without any real oversight or accountability.  With respect to Congress, the proposed legislation requires the Secretary to merely submit reports about his activities starting three months after the first purchase of mortgage-related assets and semi-annually thereafter.  That's like giving a gambling addict your life savings and asking him to send you a postcard from Las Vegas every once in a while.

If you believe, as we do, that it is time for Congress to actually serve its constitutional function and guide and oversee the activities of the executive branch*, please click on the following link to send an email to your members of Congress.

http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2165/t/1027/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=25969

After you send your email to Congress, please be sure to forward this email along to friends and family. PLEASE HELP!!

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN AND SIGN ALL THE NEEDED PETITIONS. WE ""MUST"" STOP THIS RIP-OFF FOR OUR ""CHILDREN""!!

Thousands of you responded yesterday when I wrote. I'm writing to urge you to respond again. We are having an impact but it is going to take an avalanche of citizen input to re-think the bailout. The decision Congress is considering could affect us for a generation or even two. 

One reported quote from an anonymous congressional staffer about the effect of our e-mails, phone calls, faxes, etc. indicates that support for the bailout plan in its present form is rapidly declining due to citizen pressure. The Congressional newspaper Roll Call reports: 

"The Bush administration's forceful lobbying effort failed Tuesday to win support from rank-and-file Republicans or Democrats for a $700 billion Wall Street bailout package, though GOP and Democratic leaders still planned to move a bipartisan bill by the end of the week. . . . 
 
"The rank and file in both parties expressed deep concerns about anything resembling the $700 billion that the White House wants, and leaders struggled to keep their Members open-minded in the face of surging outside opposition from a diverse range of voices from former Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) and the Club for Growth on the right to liberal bloggers on the left. . . 
 
"But both sides face heat internally, with liberals upset with what some see as a handout to Wall Street cronies and with conservatives who are appalled at the unprecedented intervention in the free market." 

PLEASE SIGN HERE:  http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/1331/t/8004/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=25972

Meltdown and Bailout: Why Our Economic System Is on the Verge of Collapse By Joshua Holland, AlterNet Bush wants to fleece us for hundreds of billions in the financial crisis, but that's just the first layer of a more fundamental economic problem. Read more »

A Frightened President Tries to Scare American Public on Bailout Huffington Post, TheNation.com Bush seeks photo opportunities with Obama and McCain; McCain's bait and switch falls flat; Letterman mocks McCain's cancellation. Read more »

Why Corporations Keep Getting Washington's Bailout Billions By Danielle Ivory, American News Project Corporate power expert Charlie Cray lays out the dangerous influence that mega companies pose on all aspects of the American economy. Read more »

10 Ways to Bail Out Wall Street (and Main Street) Without Soaking Taxpayers in Debt By Chuck Collins, Dedrick Muhammad, AlterNet Who says we need to borrow a trillion dollars to save Wall Street from its own excesses? Read more »

Economic Fascism Coming to America By Robert Scheer, Truthdig Smell a rat if Congress approves the Paulson plan without major modifications that might help Main Street as well as Wall Street. Read more »

If Congress Agrees to This Rip-off Bailout, We'll Be Handing the Money to the People Who Got Us in This Mess By Phil Mattera, AlterNet The "Paulson Plan" would outsource the handling of hundreds of billions of dollars worth of assets to those who got us into this mess. Read more »

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN AND SIGN THE PETITIONS BELOW.

STOP THE BAILOUT!! A list of Petitiont to sign....

Dear friends,

Drilling for oil and natural gas, and mining for coal has already taken a dramatic toll on our country's public lands, wildlife habitat and natural resources.

Now, Congress is considering a proposal to develop a new dangerous energy source--oil shale-- for TWO MILLION acres of America's public lands!

Photo by Chris Evans, The Pembina Institute. Oil shale extraction will yield impacts similiar to the syncrude oil sands mine in Alberta. Please urge Congress to extend the moratorium on commercial oil shale development!

Oil shale production is 130% more carbon dioxide intensive than conventional drilling and gasoline production, which means it would continue to fuel global warming-the already single greatest threat to wildlife.

HERE'S WHAT ELSE IS AT STAKE:

• OUR WATER: Oil shale production will require upwards of 315 million gallons of water a dayThis is scarce water we already need for drinking, agriculture, livestock and wildlife.
  
  
  
• OUR WILDLIFE: Oil shale development would put at risk millions of acres of wildlife habitat, and continue to raise the harmful impacts of global warming pollution for wildlife and their habitats.
  
  
  
• OUR WAY OF LIFE: Preserving America's public lands are an important part of our country's conservation tradition. Oil shale development threatens to dramatically change the face of some of our most treasured places.
  
  

Congress is moving in the wrong direction to break America's oil addiction.

Please ask your Members of Congress to be the difference that moves America's energy policies in a bold new direction.

Today's disastrous economic headlines have been brought to you by Bush-McCain-style economic policies. They prove that an economy built on Wild West behavior without legitimate government oversight brings disaster.

Beyond the government bailouts of financial giants like Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and AIG, we need to restart our economic engine by fixing our real economy - where real people live and work.

We need immediate action by Congress to provide relief for working families, create new jobs and rebuild our economy from the ground up. The AFL-CIO is calling for fast-track congressional approval of a new economic stimulus plan that includes:

• A moratorium on home foreclosures to allow for a restructuring of subprime mortgages.
• Extended unemployment benefits for jobless workers.
• Fiscal relief to states and funding for food stamps to make sure all Americans can provide for their families.
• A jump-start for ready-to-go construction projects to repair schools, roads and bridges-construction that will help create good, family-supporting jobs in many communities where currently there are none.

Join us by calling your member of Congress today and tell them to take action:
(202) 224-3121

We need to fix the real economy because families like yours remain our true economic engine. It is clear that our economic system is out of whack and we need to get to work fixing it right now, not just bailing out huge corporations.

Tell your member of Congress to pass a new economic stimulus bill that will help working families in the real economy as much as the speculative economy. We need to restart America's real economy.

High Gas Prices Got You Down?  =PLEASE SIGN=

Want change for our country? Today's economy is not an accident, and it doesn't have to be this way. Rising gas prices, ever-increasing health care costs and never-ending mortgage foreclosures hurt workers in this broken economy. Sign our "No More Business As Usual" petition today.

In America, No One Should Go Without Health Care!

It's time to cap skyrocketing costs and provide high-quality health care for everyone in America. Working America has collected the support of almost 300,000 members across the country who have signed their names on colorful bandages, petitioning for a cure for our broken health care system. They are delivering the signatures to our elected officials, asking for the just health care system we all need. One in four Americans say their family has had a problem paying for medical care during the past year-and two-thirds of them had insurance.

We can't patch up a problem like this with just a bandage. Read more and add your name to the petition.