Bankruptcy - Oh My!

So Eddie Bauer is going into bankruptcy. But amazingly, they have said that they are going to keep their stores open. So, let me get this straight. They are in bankruptcy, but they are still going to be open. They are in bankruptcy, but they are still in business.

Wow! After all the hubbub about the auto manufacturers, you would have thought that bankruptcy meant that the business would be shut down. Oh wait, haven't a number of airlines gone through bankruptcy and kept operating?

So if it's possible to enter and exit bankruptcy while operating as a business, why did the government bail out the auto industries? It wasn't so that they would then be able to take them over would it? No, that couldn't be it. Oh wait, didn't they do that with the banks???

Wow, history is really interesting now, isn't it!