In Which We Call Attention to Connor's Brilliance, Part the Second

This one he actually did create, and I like it.

Yes, expedient action is necessary. But we've all seen where executive-generated super-expedient legislative action has gotten us in the last eight years, and I think we could do without that in the future. I would rather the 110th Congress, and the 43rd administration, not use its last hours to render the Obama administration virtually ineffectual.

Unless, of course, this is a … no, I'm not going to go into conspiracy theory here. I am not going to think about conspiracies in a way that takes time away from my thinking about anything else, because *that* makes them more likely to happen. And right now I am thinking about something else.

A "bailout" needs to include real oversight, real fiscal thoughtfulness, and real penalties for those who—if not deliberately then certainly knowingly—sank the ship. It needs to be bailing out the nation itself, not Wall Street, and it needs to take real steps to prevent this from happening again. I appreciate the balls shown by the holdouts in this vote, whatever party they belong to, because it demonstrates that the blind panic Bush was able to stir up in the first term-and-a-half of his presidency is no longer a driving force for either party. I hope the Senate can craft useful bailout legislation, and in the meantime I'm going to adapt and send Connor's letter to my elected representatives in Illinois and New York.