Protesters against bailout plan picket White House

[and justice for all]

Protesters against bailout plan picket White House
September 26, 2008 - rawstory.com

Chanting "Main Street first" and carrying signs and colorful umbrellas, a few hundred protesters marched in front of the White House on a rainy Thursday afternoon to demand the rejection of Treasury Secretary Paulson's Wall Street bailout plan.

The demonstration was one of hundreds organized by TrueMajority.com and UsAction and was timed to coincide with a meeting between President Bush and Congressional leaders.

According to the Boston Globe, "A coalition of groups calling itself the Main Street Coalition marched from the Treasury Department down Pennsylvania Avenue, chanting 'No deal for Wall Street, New Deal for Main Street' and handing out copies of a 'Taxpayer Invoice' for $700 billion."

Skip Roberts of the Service Employees International Union told the Globe, "Something has to be done, but this is going to be put on the backs of the average taxpayer when they had nothing to do with it." [...]

LINK (includes VIDEO);
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Protesters_march_againt_White_House_bailout_0926.h tml

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[and justice for all]

(meanwhile...)

With All Eyes on the Bailout, House Passes Trillion-Dollar Defense Bill
alternet.org

On Wednesday, the House passed a mammoth defense bill by a 392-39 vote. It's expected to clear the Senate with little difficulty next week.

It was part of a trillion-dollar stop-gap measure to keep programs running through next March, allowing lawmakers to skip town without passing a final budget. The Associated Press reports, "The legislation came together in a remarkably secret process that concentrated decision-making power in the hands of a few lawmakers."

[...] According to the AP, "To earn President Bush's signature rather than a veto, House and Senate negotiators dropped several provisions he opposed. They include a ban on private interrogators in U.S. military detention facilities and what would have amounted to congressional veto power over a security pact with Iraq."

The number that the House sent to the Senate for "defense" -- $612 billion for the coming year -- is eye-popping. Imagine a stack of 612,000 million-dollar bills. Quite a pile. [...]

LINK;
http://www.alternet.org/workplace/100524/with_all_eyes_on_the_bailout%2C_house_passes_trill ion-dollar_defense_bill/

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