Insight into the greater Republican plan

So, Republicans are filibustering any attempts at discussing a US auto manufacturer bailout. They do not want the topic to even reach the floor to be considered.
Could this be why?

The Republican bailout plan was originally written to have absolutely no oversight. The Democrats at least forced there to be disclosure, by law, of where the money is going. The Bush Administration's response is to simply ignore the law, and dole out the money to unknown parties, refuse to disclose where the money went, and simply state "trust us, it's working". Well, here's one result - US taxpayer money potentially swelling the coffers of foreign insurance companies.

Meanwhile, Bush and the Republicans continue to "salt the earth" on their way out of power, making Obama's job of improving the country all that much harder.

Where's the outcry?

Woman gets windpipe made of stem cells

Um, where is the Republican outcry now? Why didn't the GOP and their "moral majority" use their moral superiority and power to demand that this woman not receive the medical treatment? During elections, they tell us how Democrats are evil because any use of stem cells is against God's will, is murder, is playing with forces we have no business in, and all sorts of much nastier (and of course ludicrous) accusations.

This is the same mentality that once opposed blood donation and organ transplants because it was eternally damning to souls, or objected to any kind of pain management during childbirth, which would rob a woman of the opportunity to feel Christ's pain.

Oh wait, that's right, the opposition to stem cell research and application is just empty Republican rhetoric that they haul out only for elections. They actually want medical advances to fix injuries, cure diseases and lengthen lifespan. They just say they're against those things when they misrepresent what medical research is about, in order to "energize their base".

Toyota vs. GM

So, I drive a Toyota Prius. I am extremely happy with it as a car, but it was not the car that I truly wanted. I wanted a Chevy Prius. No such car existed. Not even stretching my imagination as far as it could go. I just could not get an American car that even remotely fit the bill. So I settled and ended up with perhaps the highest quality vehicle I've ever owned.

I really want the US-owned auto manufacturing industry to be the best in the world, but for a couple of decades it just seems that their management does not want that. It's complicated, but it really appears that all parties involved that could take the big steps towards improvements are very content to continue with business as usual. Rome is burning and Nero is fiddling.

What Toyota knows that GM doesn't

At American auto companies, finance guys and marketers rise to the top - not at Honda

Added 11/19: What is an American Car

Added 11/19: Interesting blog post on reducing GM brands

So, where's the bailout money going

The more details emerge, the clearer it becomes that Washington's handling of the Wall Street bailout is not merely incompetent. It is borderline criminal.
www.thenation.com/doc/20081201/klein/print

Post election GOP

Predictably, the right is already attacking Obama. Rush is even saying that the current economic problems are caused by the anticipation of the Obama Administration. Since the current problems largely started in 1999 with Phil Gramm's dismantling of banking regulation, this claim is beyond ridiculous, so par for the course for Rush and the rest of the righty talkers.

Down in Georgia, one of the Senate's most deplorable members is trying to scare his citizens into thinking that he's the only thing that can save them from the horror of an Obama Administration. That would be Saxby Chambliss - the dirtbag that ousted Max Cleland by repeating over and over with mucho dinero how the triple-amputee veteran was an unpatriotic devotee of bin Laden.

Chambliss is in a runoff with Jim Martin, but is actually trying to be simply appointed to the Senate on the grounds that his knee hurts, and therefore there shouldn't be a runoff election, as called for by law. Sometimes, you can't make up stuff more ridiculous that what the Republicans will try to pull.
Saxby Chambliss Seeks Deferment From Runoff -- Cites "Bum Knee"

Meanwhile, at the White House, Bush is talking about how he is going to work for a smooth transition to the Obama Administration. His actions, however, are to whip out detrimental executive orders for Obama to deal with upon taking office. These orders are being designed by GOP lawyers to be particularly difficult to overturn, but must be overturned, so a lot of time must be wasted immediately after the transition. Thanks for salting the earth on your way out of town, George.

Of course, Obama will have very large problems to deal with, in addition to the last-minute landmines being set out for him by the GOP. Obama must find a solution to Bush's biggest legacy - his war against Iraq.

After years of pouring money into Iraq, placing a generation of debt upon US citizens while Iraqi coffers burst with massive oil revenues, the citizens still cannot get clean water. Over 40% of Iraq's civilian population still has no access to clean water. Even the most basic infrastructure in Iraq is not functioning.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7696641.stm

The money is gone, spent on crony contractors or otherwise "lost". The US taxpayers are left holding the bill, the Bushies leave with riches beyond their wildest dreams, and the people if Iraq are still denied a drink of clean water due to "dubya's war". Republican nation building at work, yet one more major catastrophe for future administrations to fix.