US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has clashed with members of Congress over the $700bn US financial bail-out plan.  

Mr Paulson told a Congressional committee that injecting cash into banks was the most effective way to stabilise the financial system.  

from Crikey ….. 

The Howard Years: history told by the players 

from Crikey ….. 

Ul-Haque case gives ASIO licence to play rough 

Greg Barns writes: 

As Doctor Nelson, the former leader of the Australian Liberal Party, graces the doldrums of the parliamentary hills with his affable nature, his heroic grandstanding on global warming is only belittled by his own insistence to give a tax rebate of 5 cents a litre on petrol back to the punter, so they can add more CO2 into the atmosphere...  

The Catholic Church in South Carolina is telling its members, who voted for Obama that they cannot receive communion without confessing and repenting for their sin.  

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.  

In a moment of high panic in late September, the U.S. Treasury unilaterally pushed through a radical change in how bank mergers are taxed - a change long sought by the industry.  

Vice President-elect Joe Biden is getting a tour of his new home from the outgoing occupant, Vice President Dick Cheney. 

Biden arrived Thursday at the Naval Observatory, the home for vice presidents, with his wife, Jill. They were greeted with smiles by Cheney and his wife, Lynne. 

The model for the treatment of the Arabs was the strategy adopted to wipe out the indigenous peoples of America. The mad ideas about racial and cultural superiority prevalent at the time knew no bounds.  

There really isn't any doubt any more about whether the Deputy Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, has the killer instinct. 

The problem tends more to be how to drag her off the victim's body. 

The Art Gallery of NSW will sell two paintings by famous Australians to raise funds towards the $16.2 million purchase price of Paul Cezanne's landscape Bords De La Marne.

Brett Whiteley's Balmoral and John Perceval's Pleasure Craft will be auctioned by Sotheby's in Melbourne on November 24.

So far, so good. 

The first week of Barack Obama's transition to the presidency has gone about as well as anyone could imagine. His few public appearances have been gaffe-free, and his initial decisions in setting up his administration have been strongly reassuring.

As you know, the Empire has selected a new emperor. The Mafia has chosen a new don. The corporation has hired a new CEO. Are you brimming with hope yet?

Read on… 

According to Reuters, (Nov. 11, 2008), President-Elect Barack Obama has urged President-Select George W. Bush to take “measures to help the ailing (automobile) industry on top of a $25 billion loan packaged approved in September.” 

Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull has also been criticised for questioning whether Mr Henry would be sacked if it was revealed he misled Treasury over advice given by regulators prior to the release of the Government's economic stimulus package.

But today in the Coalition party room meeting, one MP warned against attacking public servants.

from Crikey….. 

Liberals play spot the hypocrite on political accountability 

Canberra correspondent Bernard Keane writes: 

Opposition frontbencher Andrew Robb says the Treasury's latest economic figures have got "the smell of manipulation" about them because they differ from the Reserve Bank's. 

The Reserve Bank yesterday released figures which show it expects growth to slow to 1.5 per cent, compared to Treasury's prediction of 2 per cent.