Banks that are receiving taxpayer bailouts gave their top executives nearly $1.6 billion in salaries, bonuses, and other benefits last year, according to an Associated Press analysis.  Benefits included cash bonuses, stock options, company jets, limousines, country club memberships and more.  The 116 banks have so far received $188 billion of our taxpayer money.

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The one thing we can always count on Congress accomplishing is to enrich themselves at our country’s expense.  We see it with still-legal special interest donations, illegal favors such as house renovations for convicted Alaska Senator Ted Stevens, and of course the yearly Congressional pay raise.

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UniformVelocity has written an excellent article about how Congress’ billion-dollar bailouts amount to a tax on the average citizen.  Just like in America’s pre-independence colonial days, the poor masses are being forced to support the rich few.

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Voters in Louisiana ousted indicted Democratic Rep. William J. Jefferson on Saturday, denying Jefferson a 10th term.  Instead, voters elected a Republican attorney who will be the first Vietnamese-American in Congress.

Unofficial results showed Anh “Joseph” Cao winning Louisiana’s black-majority 2nd Congressional District, which includes much of New Orleans.  This defeat was even more stunning considering that just 11% of registered voters in the district are Republicans.  Cao, 41, came to the United States as a child after the fall of Saigon in 1975 and went on to earn degrees in law, philosophy and physics.

Jefferson, 61, has pleaded not guilty to charges of bribery, money laundering and misusing his congressional office.  Voters re-elected Jefferson in 2006 even after the bribery scandal broke.  Jefferson has been the butt of late-night TV comics ever since federal agents found $90,000 in alleged bribe money hidden in his freezer.

Georgia Republican Senator Saxby Chambliss’ late win in the 2008 election blocked the Democrats from having a filibuster-proof super-majority of 60 seats in the Senate.

The victory came after a tough one-month runoff campaign against Democrat Jim Martin.  Given the importance of this undecided race, political celebrities from both parties flooded the state with stump speeches and attack ads.  Bill Clinton, Al Gore and Barack Obama stumped for Martin.  John McCain, Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee and Sarah Palin all stumped for the winner Chambliss.

“It’s been a hard and tough four weeks,” Chambliss said at his victory party.  “We had a hardcore campaign on both sides and while things look good right now, we’re going to continue to follow the returns as they come in.”

Chambliss’ platform in the runoff was simple: prevent the Democrats in Washington from having a blank check.  Chambliss’ win is a small victory in a terrible year for Republicans, who lost the White House and multiple seats in the House and the Senate.

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