Article: Lord of the Credit Cards

He chose who?

Joe BIDEN?????

Why aren't Progressives or Liberal Democrats or even "mainstream" Democrats shrieking, rioting, setting themselves on fire, about this insane choice? Was there any resistance in the Democratic Party (other than among the Clinton True Believers; they wanted their "gal" in the VP slot so they could experience, finally, catharsis) to this selection? Any at all?

Apparently not, and the absence of that resistance is a fairly accurate gauge of the degree to which the Democratic Party has died, passed away, evaporated in a steamy mist of defeatist miasma. It is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Corporate America - like the Republican Party - only not yet as murderous, as foul, as the other Corporate Owned Party. Not quite. Close, though.

So, wave the white flag, boys and girls; it's all over but the Benediction as four days from now the delegates shuffle from the Pepsi Center and Invesco Field and all the various gatherings sponsored and paid for by those Blessed Corporate Souls such as AT&T, Comcast, General Motors, Microsoft, Motorola and on and on and on . . .

Okay. So, who's to argue with the DLC? It's their party, their presidential candidate, and their vice-presidential candidate. Pardon moi, theirs and Corporate America's. Which makes the selection of Joe Biden perfect. Nauseatingly, gaggingly, perfect.

Who remembers or cares about Biden's breathless cheer-leading (and vote) for the passage of the (ha-ha) "Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005?" Who cares about Biden's relentless support of this ugly, anti-consumer act and the seemingly limitless financial support Biden has received from the credit card behemoth MBNA - now subsumed into the financial snake pit known as the Bank of America? From Wikipedia:

MBNA was one of the prime movers in lobbying for the passage of the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005, which took 11 years and millions of dollars spent on lobbying before the act was finally passed when 15 Democrats (all of whom had received campaign contributions from MBNA, notably Joseph Biden, (D-DE) $147,700) joined with their Republican colleagues to sign it into law.

MBNA was one of the companies mentioned on a 2004 Frontline PBS special about unfair business practices by credit card companies. Some industry practices which MBNA possibly engaged in previously included doubling or tripling of interest rates, shifting billing due dates/payment cycles monthly, and raising rates for customers whose payments were a day or two late which earned it the sobriquet, Misrepresentation Bank of North America . . .

It is a well known banking industry fact that after the MBNA / Bank of America deal of January 1, 2006, a number of MBNA execs were booted off the BofA board of directors due to their fears that their unethical practices could result in criminal charges against them under a number of statutes including the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

(For a thorough understanding of this legislation, Hunter, a diarist at Daily Kos nailed it two-plus years ago. Go here).

Oh, my. "Criminal charges . . ." And, Biden right in there with the scum. Glomming up the money, shuffling back and forth on the train nightly (so we are now told) between D.C. and Delaware like a ghost, a lost soul . . . sigh . . . alone with the darkness, and the passing lights of small town America whizzing past . . . time to reflect on the damage about to be done to what was left of working-class America as a result of his support for this vile bill . . . or not reflecting . . . who really knows? . . . and this filthy piece of legislation, yet another bullet-proof slab of Corporate Protection at the expense of real people . . . oh, well . . . sigh . . .

So . . . now? Well, now Senator Biden is the Vice Presidential Nominee of the Democratic Party! The running mate of our Great Agent of Change, Barack Obama!!! And we should be - we must be - happy! We have a Winning Team! A New Dawn is coming! Vote Democratic! Vote Obama/Biden! Vote for Change!!!! Blessed Change!

And, there's so much more about Senator Biden's legislative efforts that brings smiles to the faces of the Blessed Corporate Overlords who have funded so much of the Democratic Party, who have written check after check, sometimes even more (gasp!) than to Republicans, who now can relax, don't worry, it's been handled, all is okay, we're home free, Bush is on the way out, the new "Bush" is in the wings. Obama/Biden! A vote for change! Change We Can Believe In!!!!!!

God Bless Us, Everyone!