What's somewhat telling is that, had the bailout situation not happened, the pork-laden bill would have passed quietly through the senate without comment from the masses and media, eh? Which is business as usual up there on the hill.

No argument here. But I think the chief argument against agaran's suggestion (that we should push for the bill to include provisions for fixing the underlying problem of bad mortgages) is that the bill is too urgent to risk delaying it with additional measures.

If the Senate really feels that it's not more urgent than tax relief for NASCAR drivers and toy manufacturers and candlestick inspectors, then I daresay we can afford to put some real relief provisions in there.