Dog Pile!

We're always a little suspicious when everyone "piles on" to something, whether it's the latest hot movie or the latest wrong-doer who needs a scolding. Mob mentality scares us, primarily because the mob usually acts, or reacts, before it has all the facts. Take the case of today's hearing at the U.S. Capitol where the CEO of AIG, yes, that AIG, will appear before members of Congress. You can imagine the screaming and teeth gnashing, not to mention, grandstanding that will appear before the t.v. cameras on the part of the Congressmen. Don't get us wrong, AIG probably deserves it, but here's why it's important to remember that there is always another angle to a story, if you're willing to look for it. Evidently, before this last stimulus bill passed the House and Senate, Sen.'s Wyden of Oregon and Snowe of Maine, (pictured at right), had written an amendment which would have prevented the AIG employees from taking those infamous million dollar bonuses. But business lobbyists successfully convinced some members of Congress into stripping that amendment from the stimulus bill. So when watching the Congressmen rant and rave today, send them an email and ask them if they agreed to let Wyden and Snowe's amendment be removed. Oh, and by the way, thank you Sen. Wyden and Sen. Snowe for being on the ball, and congratulations to the citizens of Oregon and Maine, respectively, who were smart enough to elect those two people to Congress!

We got the above tidbit of information from last night's Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC, where it was also reported that a new Red Cross report on the tortue of terrorist suspects in the U.S. secret C.I.A. prisons is going to make Abu Ghraib look like a pony ride at a kiddie zoo. Maybe that long wished-for "perp walk" is in Dick Cheney's future after all.