Wonkette

You know how the entire U.S. and maybe Global Economy is collapsing, right now? That’s all because people like Countrywide CEO Angelo Mozilo came up with the brilliant idea of giving huge mortgages to people with no down payment and no income and no credit, and then he immediately sold the mortgages to investment banks and hedge funds that chopped up the loans and sold them again and again, so that basically the entire financial system was propped up on trillions of dollars worth of doomed loans that Countrywide knew were worthless, and this whole shell game caused a real-estate bubble that has since popped, wiping out half the house equity in the nation, and meanwhile these same chief executives were taking home hundreds of millions in bonuses for pulling off this fraud operation.

That’s why Virginia Congressman Tom Davis wants to make sure these subprime CEOs are treated very well during this difficult time. MORE »

Mean people in Congress totally made Condoleezza Rice interrupt her usual routine by making her sit down and answer a bunch of boring questions about, you know, Iraqi government corruption, murderous Blackwater mercenaries, and a bunch of other stuff that she doesn’t know anything about. Ooooh… why does Waxman keep pestering Condi?

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Blackwater claims its murderous thugs are independent contractors (1099) rather than employees (W2); now Congressman Waxman wants to nail this sinister mercenary army for tax evasion.

Rumsfeld had a “change of heart” and decided to actually listen to Congress and show up and deny killing Pat Tillman. These are funny times, as you can usually tell when the sacked Secretary of Defense testifies before a House Committee investigating the fratricide of NFL/Army hero Pat Tillman and the coordinated (but ultimately botched) conspiracy to hide the murder. MORE »

* President Bush presents his budget. Grover Norquist says, “Yay!” Nancy Pelosi says, “Boo!” [WP, NYT]
* Rudy Giuliani plans to run for President in the same clipped-sentence, homo-loving way to which he is accustomed. [WP, NYT]
* “Senator McConnell led his Republican troops off a cliff,” to make sure American troops could be led into Baghdad. [WP, NYT, LAT, USAT]
* Henry Waxman is the Eliot Ness to Dick Cheney’s Al Capone. [NYT]
* Making less than $100K a year qualifies as “American Poor,” with all the paltry handouts to which you are entitled. [WSJ]
* Sexy astronaut love triangle features adultery, assault, diapers. [LAT]

• Heard on the Hill: Ken Mehlman goes to a birthday party at the Rock and Roll Hotel, awkward time had by all. Extensive quoting of Biggie… “Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), ranking member on the Government Reform Committee, sent a letter to Mehlman on Monday asking him to ‘fess up about whether he took U2 concert tickets from Jack Abramoff“… [Roll Call]
• Yeas and Nays: Male politicians make numerous amusing grooming faux pas… “Meet the Press” producer Betsy Fischer threw a cocktail party with Dina Powell, assistant secretary for educational and cultural affairs at the State Department. Everyone in bed with everyone story #5,673. [Examiner]

Rep. Henry Waxman (D - CA) wants to know why FEMA is paying Carnival Cruise Lines so much to rent three cruise ships to house Hurricane Katrina evacuees. In 2002, Waxman discovered, Carnival had gross revenues of $150 million over six months. In 2005, it’s charging the federal government $238 million for the same time-period, even though for this particular journey, it doesn’t have to burn any fuel (the ships are docked) or pay as many employees as usual (the bars and casinos are closed). MORE »

• Page Six: “Judy Miller does not have speaking engagements booked through 2007. She has few, if any, on the calendar at this point,” says Times flack. . . Howard Wolfson to teach the “Art of Managing the Political Process” at the New School. . . Jim McGreevey busy dating. [NYP, NYP, NYP]
• Inside the Beltway: Nancy Pelosi, Henry Waxman introduce Anti-Cronyism and Public Safety Act. [WT]