This is what I suggest for this administration, congress, Haliburton, Lobbyist firms, and the entire political campus that America is subjected to: Americans should DEMAND a forensic account of laws and money. But then, who will we call on to do it, the JustThem Dept? Who can we call on to study these laws, the Supreme RepubliCourt? We have totally lost our level of respect around the globe, we are not to be trusted in most countries. We armed Bin Laden, and now we want to kill him, We armed Hussein, and now we want to hang him, We armed Chavez and it is just a matter of time, We armed Noreiga and you see what happened to him, did i miss anyone? oh yes i did, we armed Bush and we get what we deserve!

SO ?? !!! Are we surprised ??? I mean come on. SOmebody has to fill the shoes left by DeLay.

I mean it's an image thing....Isn't it.

They ALL have to go. We have to start again. Well, there are a few good ones. (like Feingold). but for the most part, we only have the few who voted against the Patriot Act. These are lean times for Progressives and liberals. The American people voted Bush in (if they actually did) because of FEAR. They have to realize that there is a good chance that 9/11 was probably an inside job. This power-elite will do anything to keep lining their pockets and stay in power. This "president" is the worst of all time. He is giving away all of our assets becasue he has a Zionist/glabalist "view", (God-given, of course). That's why he hs done nothing about illegal immigration.

We are hated world-wide due to our barbious policies that inflict death to innocent civilians with our cluster bombs,DU, white phosphorus, etc, WE ARE THE TERRORISTS AND OCCUPIERS. We are being spoon-fed all this other garbage to "soothe the masses". Look at the real numbers. This whole "Administration" should be indicted for war crimes.

I just got threw getting my taxes done. Now the POS has some more money to do the same thing again this year. Thanks again Bushit, you appointed this Flake.

what we have in this country is institutionalized corruption. the problem is that the big media outlets don't go apeshit over a story like this. in fact they hardly care. the other problem is that most americans get their news from television, and that's a giant mistake.

if these stories were in the TV news as much as clinton getting a blowjob, the american people might realize how corrupt and treasonous their leadership is.

I heavily fault the national tv networks and also major print newspapers for failing to pursue heatedly these stories of political corruption. and not only these stories, but also stories such as israeli complicity in 9/11 and the anthrax attacks. and many more.

the REAL stories, the truth behind the bullshit illusion, is never broadcast. why is that?

I happen to believe that often a name gives insight into a persons destiny, like Thomas Crapper inventin the toilet. Well, the reflublicans choose a successor to Tom Delay, who is busy trying to 'delay' his fate. What is his name....Boehner, like 'boner'. No kidding, that is really his name! The question that remains is just how BIG a boner is he going to pull.....and will his party pay for it in the upcoming election. I really would like to see a replay of the election of 1800 and see the republicanns get creamed just like the Federalists did way back then. Thing of it. The Federalists passed an onerous series of laws called the 'Alien and Sedition Acts', just like the Republicans with their 'Patriot Act'. Meaning and intent wise they are the same. The Federalists loss everything in the election of 1800. The era following was called the 'era of good feeling'. The winners of the election of 1800 were Thomas Jefferson's party, the 'Democratic-Republican Party' which later shortened to simply the 'Democratic Party'.

Isn't it strange I am a lifetime resident of Ohio and I never heard of John Boehner until he put his name in the ring for house leader.

Ah, yes. . . John Boehner and Sallie Mae. Kinda like a dry "pb & j" sandwich, isn't it?

Simply stated, it's a sad and disgraceful commentary. And you're right, Bob Johnson: Why is it the network news people don't readily report such corruption?

Sallie Mae should change its name to Bullie Mae...

While Sallie Mae pretends to have the best interests of their customers at heart, they covertly work behind the scenes to pass anti-competitive legislation that will end up costing students and parents billions of dollars.

Can you imagine the uproar if homeowners were suddenly told that if they want to re-finance their home, with a different lender, they can't; -- or even worse, if they were informed that they cannot re-finance at all?

Specifically, I'm talking about Sallie Mae's recently successful effort to add to and solidify the restriction-of-trade laws that have dogged the federal student loan program for decades. This collection of laws make it difficult, if not impossible, for student loan borrowers to shop around for the lowest available rates when they wish to consolidate their education debt.

Put another way, Sallie Mae and a few other big lenders don't want the lure of lower rates tempting their customers to switch to competitors. That's why they’ve lobbied so hard for these restrictions. And as of now, they are winning the battle -- and perhaps, even the war.

For years participants in the federal student loan program have converted their variable-rate federally guaranteed college loans into fixed-rate federal consolidation loans, to lock in favorable interest rates, in much the same way that homeowners do with their mortgages. And for the same reasons.

But under the new laws effective this July, the vast majority who have consolidated will be legally barred from ever re-financing again, no matter what other lender later might have offered them a better deal. And no matter how many times you read this paragraph, its meaning will remain the same.

Some would argue that because the government is subsidizing student loans, open market re-financing is not appropriate. But the fact is that under the just repealed laws that heretofore allowed reconsolidation, lenders -- and not the taxpayers, absorbed the cost of lower rates offered to borrowers.

Also, readers should know that borrowers whose loans are owned by a single lender have always been prohibited from shopping around for the best of rates and terms when it came time to consolidate. Congress had been promising to repeal that anti-competitive law, known as the Single Holder Rule, but the proposal was mysteriously dropped from the Budget Deficit Act at the very last minute.

The dollars lost to higher interest rates resulting from this collection of restriction-of-trade legislation will never show up in the Congressional Budget Office cost estimates that everyone in Washington is forever quoting. And if you are wondering where those dollars will end up, you need look only so far as the bottom line of Sallie Mae's income statement.

And to add insult to injury, Sallie Mae, like a football player spiking a ball after a game-winning touchdown, has begun celebrating. Their VP, Tom Joyce, was quoted in USA TODAY as saying, "The consolidation loan program was never meant to be a re-financing bonanza for students." And later, his crowing grew even louder when he told the Orlando Sentinel, "Smaller corporations will now think twice about getting into the student loan business."

Those ugly statements by Sallie Mae's chief media spokesperson graphically emphasize the immediate necessity of Republicans and Democrats joining forces to restore open competition in this very important marketplace. The cost of college is just too high to protect Sallie Mae's profits any longer.

C. Victoria Patrick
Former Educator, College Administrator and Financial Adviser (retired)