Bits & Pieces
Bits and pieces from this reporter’s notebook.
Da-deet-da-deet...The second top Dem in the Senate was pushing for limits on fees that banks could charge their debit and credit card customers. Opposition came from a bunch of "moderate" donkeys who claimed that community banks would be hurt. Dick Durbin had said that small banks, with $1 billion or less in assets, would be exempt, and then he raised it to $10 billion. Still, the Independent Community Bankers of America refused to back the plan. So Durbin finally found his voice and charged, "They profit from the fees, just like the big banks do. They don't come to their opposition with clean hands. They have a profit motive in opposing this amendment." Well duh, everyone who lobbies Congress has a profit motive.
Da-deet-da-deet...The United States gives Israel $2.5 billion a year in direct military aid to Israel. President Obama wants to boost that another $200 million to give them a short-range rocket defense system to interdict mortars and rockets from Gaza and southern Lebanon. While we would all prefer that no missiles get fired at Israel, the distance and trajectory of those weapons make stopping them virtually impossible. What would work is if that money was spent instead on food and medicine for the people living in Gaza and south Lebanon.
Da-deet-da-deet....Closely-cropped shots of golfers Phil Mickelson and Lee Westwood at the Players Tournament a couple of weeks ago showed that combined they had seven corporate logos on their clothes. Shown in their full regalia there were possibly more. But for goodness sakes, do these ridiculously over-paid sports figures need to festoon themselves with advertising? What happened to the dignity of golf? This is like renaming the bowl games after their sponsors.
Da-deet-da-deet...Finally, to remind us of the importance of news, this motto from The Amarillo Globe and News: "A newspaper may be forgiven for lack of wisdom, but never for lack of courage."
©2010 SetonnoteS
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