Weekend Update

It's a sad day around here today. As you know, one of the big fights that I have been working on nearly the entire summer was trying to prevent passage of a massive taxpayer-funded bailout for the sub-prime mortgage industry. Unfortunately, the Senate passed the bill in a rare Saturday vote, and the President is scheduled to sign it into law this week. I am particularly disappointed that President Bush backed down from his earlier threat to veto the bill, which opened the door for its passage. At a time when the strength of will and stubbornness that defined much of his Presidency was needed he chose to back down. I guess a hell-bent Treasury Secretary and thoughts of a legacy are pretty powerful motivators. If any silver lining can be found to this story, it's that we were successful in slowing down a bill that was expected to pass with little resistance and exposed much of the corruption that has been going on in the housing industry and the U.S. Congress. Also, the final form of the bill, while not ideal, is much more limited in scope than the original bill that was proposed - something that probably would not have happened if there had been no resistance.

At times like this, when you've been busting your butt on something only to get beaten by powerful moneyed interests, it's easy to succumb to the temptation to get cynical. To a certain extent, I will admit to giving into this temptation. However, I refuse to become cynical about our great Republic. I am steadfast in my belief that the system the Founding Fathers created works. That all power in government, despite the abuses of individual members (I'm looking at you Chris Dodd), ultimately derives and is checked by the people. A big thank you to everyone who took action - our voices were definitely heard.

Now on to other, more exciting news. Last Saturday night, I was fortunate enough to see The Eagles in concert from the comfort of a luxury box at the Verizon Center. A friend of mine won the tickets on Wednesday, but couldn't make it to the concert, so she was nice enough to offer me one of them (thanks Aimee!!!). The concert was incredible. They played for a little over three hours and sounded just as good as they did in their prime. Truly one of the great American rock bands. Highlight of the show was the final encore: "Take it Easy" (my personal favorite) followed by "Desperado."