Senate shelves asbestos bill

Good:

WASHINGTON, Feb. 14 — The Senate decided on Tuesday night to all but kill legislation to create a $140 billion fund to compensate victims of asbestos poisoning.

This bill was a bailout for an industry that made a harmful product and knowingly exposed workers to it. One of them was Dresser Industries. Let's take a stroll down Memory Lane:

In 1998, Dresser merged with its main rival, Halliburton, and is now known as Halliburton Co. Dick Cheney negotiated the $7.7 billion deal, reportedly having done so during a weekend of quail-hunting. In 2001, Halliburton was forced to settle the asbestos lawsuits that it acquired as a result of purchasing Dresser, causing the company's stock price to fall by 80 percent in just over a year.

Heckuva job, Dick.