And Rasumussen reported that more Americans oppose the $1.2 trillion (including intest) bill than support it.   Here are some blurbs:

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 37% favor the legislation, 43% are opposed, and 20% are not sure.

Two weeks ago, 45% supported the plan. Last week, 42% supported it.

Opposition has grown from 34% two weeks ago to 39% last week and 43% today.

Sixty-four percent (64%) of Democrats still support the plan. That figure is down from 74% a week ago. Just 13% of Republicans and 27% of those not affiliated with either major party agree.

Seventy-two percent (72%) of Republicans oppose the plan along with 50% of unaffiliated voters and 16% of Democrats.

Meanwhile Congressional Republicans doubt whether the bill will save or create the 3 to 4 million jobs Obama and the Dems claim.

The bill is full of pork and nonsense and needs to be scrapped.

Hat Tip:  Cranky Hermit

Here’s an excerpt from his opening:

The Fairness Doctrine was enacted in 1949 and lasted until the Reagan Administration. In 1985, the FCC issued a report. According to the Museum of Broadcast Communication, the report said the Doctrine was stifling debate:

By 1985, the FCC issued its Fairness Report, asserting that the doctrine was no longer having its intended effect, might actually have a “chilling effect” and might be in violation of the First Amendment. In a 1987 case, Meredith Corp. v. FCC, the courts declared that the doctrine was not mandated by Congress and the FCC did not have to continue to enforce it. The FCC dissolved the doctrine in August of that year.

The Democrat Congress, in the face of a report saying they might be violating the First Amendment, voted the Fairness Doctrine into law in 1987. Reagan squashed it with a veto. Thus, Rush Limbaugh and talk radio was born.

[end excerpt]

Thank God for Reagan, ay?  Wtih NBC, CBS, ABC, MSNBC, CNN, the NYT et al in the tank for the Dems and the hard left – 90% of the staff at these “mainstream” media orgs are registered Democrats and many are clearly unable or unwilling to hide their bias – conservative talk radio (and FNC) is really all we conservatives have for the airing of conservative/Republican platforms and ideas.

It is truly amazing that even with a multitude of network media and AM and FM radio channels, the Democratic leadership wants to force conservative talk radio to give equal airtime to liberal/left views.  Apparently they really cannot stand to let conservative broadcasters and citizens talk freely.

On a personal note, I listen to Laura Ingraham every morning on my drive to work.  If half her show had to be devoted to the voicing of liberal, leftist, George Soros and Bill Moyers type ranting, I wouldn’t listen.

For your information, here are the names of people who have either come out in favor of The Fairness Doctrone or have said they think conservative talk radio needs to be shut down:  John Kerry, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Dick Durbin, and Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM).

You’d think after Chuck Schumer’s ignorance was plastered all over the news for leaking his letter to the Office of Thrift Supervision and personally creating the run on IndyMac Bank that destroyed IndyMac in just 3 business days that Democrats would learn to keep their mouths shut.

E!!:

You would, wouldn’t you?

Alas, Harry “I Am Compelled to Bloviate” Reid (D-NV), has not learned to keep his big trap shut.

Exhibit 1: Reid’s recent statement that he’d heard a big player in the insurance industry was on the verge of failure.

Exhibit 2: Three insurance companies fitting Reid’s description, “… a major insurance company — one with a name that everyone knows …” had major stock selloffs following his comments.

While I certainly don’t condone rumor-spawned panic among shareholders, the reality is that investors are reeling and the least little ripple rocks their proverbial boat.

So it is that Reid’s ego grew three sizes while MetLife stock plunged $7.19 (15%) to $40.96; Hartford dropped $12.20 (32%) to $25.91; and Prudential sank $7.15 (11%) to $57.65.

Reid then came out with a statement that he was “not personally aware of any particular company being on the verge of bankruptcy” and that “he has no special knowledge about nor has he talked to any insurance company officials.”

Whatever, Dude.

You either knew something or not, but either way, you ran your mouth, scared people out of their wits, and caused a major sell-off.

Apparently “consumer confidence” is a concept that exists outside the scope of Senator Reid’s cognitive skills.

Or perhaps he just doesn’t give a damn, because consumer panic and irrational thinking equal more room for government meddling – and possibly an Obama win.

Here’s the text of an automated phone message Chuck Muth received last week…

So says Susan Jones of CNS News, who is reporting on the Senate debates of the “rescue bill” (still an Obama-ism, still smacks of false victimology, still hate it).

In an attempt to grease the Senate wheels on this bill, Reid now says he supports an Alternative Minimum Tax relief: $8 billion for natural disaster victims, and $78 billion in renewable energy incentives and extended tax breaks.

Reid’s commentary included statements like “we’ve got to get this done” and “it would be a blight on this Congress not to pass these tax extenders” and “tens of thousands of jobs will be created.”

How wonderful that liberal Democrat Harry Reid has finally admitted that tax cuts help businesses and create middle class jobs.

Pigs, commence flight.

Update:  George reminds us that Obama had a revelation on taxation also:  when he said that as president he would delay rolling back the Bush tax cuts if the economy was weak…essentially acknowledging that tax hikes hurt the economy.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has a “plan” which will “shift” $700 billion in obligations from private companies to the American taxpayer.  Apparently he sees this as the only Way and has 9,000 wizards on stand-by to make it so.  (The same Wall Street wizards that got us into this mess, no doubt?)

And evidently most members of Congress are spellbound and preparing to waft more money New York’s way.

One can only imagine what Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (the largest beneficiary of political funds from Fannie & Freddie) will dream up as he joins hands and sings Tra La La La La with Reid and Pelosi.  I’m not sure how it ends, but I’m pretty sure the working title is Nightmare on Wall Street and that we are barely ten minutes in.

Setting the typically wrong-headed Paulson aside for a moment, how is it that Bush and Congress care so little about protecting the American taxpayer?

And why all the insistence on a quick solution?  This mess was not created in a week, yet Paulson and our illustrious Congressional geniuses think they can solve it by this Thursday?  Does it not occur to anyone that we need to take a deep breath, wade in, and calmly and pragmatically work our way through our many economic and financial problems in a careful and measured manner?

As Newt blogged today (thank God for Mr. Gingrich), between the crisis of liquidity on Wall Street, the crisis of bad energy policy that transfers $700 billion a year to foreign nations, the crisis of Sarbanes-Oxley that cripples entrepreneurs/start ups and drives banks and businesses from New York to London, and the crisis of a high corporate tax rate…we are in some very deep Doo Doo.

Newt proposes a ”non-bureaucratic solution that would stop the liquidity crisis almost overnight and do it using private capital rather than taxpayer money.”  He suggests four reforms that would do the trick without the bureaucracy and additional tax burden.  I suggest you read his blog post as it is well worth the time, but in summation they are:

#1  Stop the mark-to-market rule which is forcing companies into unnecessary bankruptcy. If short selling can be suspended on 799 stocks, the mark-to-market rule can be suspended for six months and then replaced with a more accurate three year rolling average mark-to-market. 

#2  Repeal Sarbanes-Oxley. It failed with Freddy, Fannie, Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, and AIG. It is crippling our entrepreneurial economy. One San Jose firm told Newt they would bring more than 20 companies public in the next year if the law was repealed. It’s Sarbanes-Oxley’s $3 million per startup annual accounting fee that is keeping these companies private.

#3  Go to a zero capital gains tax like China and Singapore.  Private capital will flood into Wall Street (at no cost to Joe Taxpayer) and lead to an increase in federal revenue through a larger, more prosperous economy.

#4  Pass an “all of the above” energy plan designed to bring home $500 billion of the $700 billion a year we are sending overseas. With that much energy income, our economy would boom.

E!! endorses these proposals (a fact I’m sure Newt is happy to hear) and strongly advises against implementation of the Paulson plan which by all reasoned accounts is going to be a total Mess.

In closing, I’ll be waiting to see what McCain says and does about all this.  If he doesn’t reject the Paulson/Bush/Congressional plan and closely align himself with much of what Newt said here, I may not be able to vote for him after all.

(Note:  To those who have heard me joke that I am going to “get drunk and vote for McCain,” consider this my semi-official back-peddle…pending the outcome of this mess and McCain’s stand on things.  Let’s see how Maverick-y the self-proclaimed maverick is when it really counts.)